An analysis from afar
by Whavey
Summary: We had it all, we thought... It was shortly after my promotion when my feelings popped up. It was her that made me feel reborn, warm, safe and most of all, alive. In a period where homophobia was a thing, I wanted her more than I wanted anything. But was the team going to suffer too? (repost from my Wattpad story An Analysis From Afar, account name also Whavey)
1. summary

We had everything, we thought...

Our League of Legends team just won the promotion tournament from the EUCS, to the EULCS. A big step for everyone. Especially me.

Let me introduce team DMF, Darkness My Friend. The name came from a dark time when everyone in our team was depressed. We kind of pulled everyone through and saw our team grow. On top, we have Joseph "SeaAngel", but we call him Joe. In the botlane we had Erkki "ButtMuppet" as the support and Aidan "I only jungle"as our ADC. On mid we had Ezra "Ezzieboy" and me, Lizzy "FeedMe" jungle. We met through facebook all and soon I found out that Ezra lived about two streets away from me. Erkki, or Erik as we call him, lived in Finland and Estonia with his parents and Aiden and Joe lived in the UK. We weren't that special of a team, but we had one advantage the rest of the teams didn't have, and that was something more than friendship or family. It was called intertwined. We could finish each other sentences without thinking about it, we knew our drafts and we all had been at a dark place, making us understand each other.

One thing no one knew, except Erik, was that I was lesbian. Sure, I flirted shamelessly with every man, but I never loved them.

And then our promotion happened.

I already gave up on love, but this was different. It was like I was reborn. My heart beat faster as I saw her in her gorgeous dress. I hated myself, thinking she was straight. But in this world, any wrong analysis from her desk, could kill anyone, including the man who are fighting for her.

But how can we hold our pride as one of the most synergized teams, if we can't keep ourselves happy? How do you deal when no one seems who he was?

And what happens if the girl you love, finally manages to make you happy with three simple words?

This is my analysis from afar!


	2. Prologue

Lizzy

We just had one of the best splits ever. Every game we won, only losing one against misfits, and then proceeded to take on Elements. It is promotion tournament spring 2016. The standing for Elements was 2-0 at this point in our favour. I talked to the guys. "Ezzie, get your Ziggs out. Joe, I think it is time to show them how annoying Rek'Sai top is. Bot, go somewhat more defensive. I am getting out my one trick pony." I say in the chat after they banned away Xin Zhao, Soraka and Lissandra. We all know who their bans are focussed on. Catching top, mid and jungle out. Ezra frowns. "Are you sure?" He asks and I nod. "It is time to pull out the Dragon." I say.

An advantage the red side has, was the picks. When they locked in Graves, we knew we needed Rek'sai. Suddenly Erik and Aiden were heard. "Lock in Poppy for Erik. He wants to show what he is made of." Aidan says as I lock in Poppy. "Keep my jungle open." I say and Erik hums that he understood it. I look at my screen as Elements locks in Nautilus and Ezreal. "Vayne." I say immediately and Aiden gasps. "Against them? Doubt it." He says and I shake my head. "It's perfect. Do it." I say and he locks in as Ezra locks in Ziggs. At this moment we are waiting for their mid and jungle. Ryze pops up and is locked in and I wait for their last one. It's Nidalee. Erik turns at me with a questioning look. "Lock her in." I say and it's locked in.

45 minutes later I stare in complete shock at the bright blue screen, with golden letters. Erik and Aiden are hugging each other, and Ezra pulls me in a deep hug. "Victory for DMF and they go the the Summer LCS split." Someone says and I give Ezra a hug and soon we are engulfed by the rest. I get out and walk to Elements, shaking their hands. "GG" I mutter after I pass everyone of them. Ezra and Aidan are pulled out for an interview as we get our Keyboards and walk backstage. Backstage I pull Erik in a hug. "Who thought social misfits could make it to here?" I whisper in his ear and he smiles. "I did." I hear him mutter and I smirk. His Poppy plays made this game intense. He gave Aidan an early first blood, always useful on Vayne, and knew when to engage. He saved my life and got me my 2v5 pentakill by preventing that we were closed in. He was brilliant this game. Then Joe comes up to me and pulls me in a tight hug. "I am staying here in Berlin with you and Ezzie. My mother told me she wasn't home so I am going to help you find an apartment here in Berlin for us." He says and I smile at him. "Thanks." I mutter and he smiles.

As Ezra and Aidan returned, we went to Elements to say our goodbye to them and thank them. As I hugged Gilius, he smiled at me. "You are gonna go far kid. I never seen anyone so focussed and calculated as you in the jungle. Santorin, Svenskeren, Reignover, all very good and very talented, but they all rely on their team to carry. You don't need it, you need a good leash and you are in." He says and I blush. "You don't say this because I am a girl, do you?" I ask and he grins. "I don't. I say it because I mean it. I never have seen anyone as talented as you are." he says and I nod. We walk out to the hotel and there is where I see her for the first time. My eyes are focussed on her as Erik nudges me. "If you don't want anyone to notice, quit it now." He says, hinting to lesbian side. I nod in a grateful way and walk on.

In the hotel, we start looking for apartments. Ezra's father offered his help since he is a craftsman and works for himself, and we were happy with that. As we were all scrolling pages, I found this perfect house in our budget. "Guys, come!" I call and they come. It is an house, not too far from the LCS stadium and it is pretty spacious. It has three floors and 7 rooms. "Then we can have a new manager and coach too." I hear Ezra say and I nod. I look at the price and turn to them. "It it cheap. Shall I just ask if we can visit it?" I ask and they nod.

An hour later we walk towards the address. As we stop, and look to the garden, an old lady opens. "Lizzy Janssen?" I hear her ask and I walk to her. "Hello miss, that's me." I say and she nods. A big man appears and I smile at him. "Good evening sir. I came here to check out the house. My friends and I are very interested in buying it." I say and he nods. "Come mama, let me show them around." He says and I smile as the elderly woman goes to the living room. We follow the man and are undoing our shoes as the man stops. "You can keep them on. My name is Jeronimo. My mother used to have a babysit here but now she is too old. So we are kind of selling it now." He explains and I nod. He starts with the top floors, both floors have three rooms. "The last one is downstairs." He explains and we nod, following him. The living room is two areas. One connected to the kitchen, where the dinner area is, and one where we could make our scrims area. The kitchen is pretty huge and there is a bathroom too, complete with shower and bath. Then he leads us to the garden. "There is one last bedroom, and we made it only accessible through the staircase cabinet." Jeronimo tells us and we follow him. It is beautiful and two huge windows give us view on the garden. "This is so a room for Lizzy. Her little hide out." I hear Erik say as I look around. I turn to the guys. "What do you guys think?" I ask and they smile. "We will do it." I say as their happy faces appear.


	3. Chapter 1

Lizzy

A week later, we had the house. Tom, Ezra's father, drove to Berlin as soon as he heard we bought a house. We decided that Erik, Aidan and Ezra share the loft (there are three rooms there and a bathroom), Joe would sleep on the second floor and I would sleep on the first floor. We posted out a request for a coach and manager. To our surprise, Oliver 'IzpAH' Steer reacted to our manager position and a good friend of mine, Sabine, reacted to the coach position. We decided to let more people apply before we chose anyone, but Oliver was high on the list.

Two weeks later, we were settled in our new home. We made half of the living room a scrim room and the other half was for dinner and meetings. Everyone painted their own rooms in the colours they likes. Ezra's room was blue and green and white, Erik chose for white and black, Aidan and Joe both went with one wall red and purple squares and the rest white and I went ham. Three walls were bright red, one wall was a deep purple and there was red carpet on the floor. The ceiling was black. Everyone had a bed, clothing cabinet, bed side table and a desk with chair. We decided to hire indeed Oliver and Sabine and they moved in too. It was fun and we really enjoyed having fun in the house. Sabine and Oliver noticed how much we knew each other and knew how we could rely on each other. That is why Sabine came up with a monster draft. "It isn't for the first game but for the ones against per example Fnatic or G2. They are stronger than we are but their bot is their weakness and Perkz relies too much on Kikis to do anything. If we manage to sneak away Nautilus for Joe and Hecarim for Lizzy, we only need a secure bot lane and an aggressive pick for Ezra. I would suggest an Orianna or Lissandra." Sabine told us weeks ago. At that moment we didn't knew what our first week was going to be. Our first game was against Roccat but our second was against G2.

It's the first day of the Summer split and everyone is super excited. We spend the last two weeks practising and training and the one day we were off a week, we spend it on training. Yesterday they dragged me out of the gaming house because Riot wanted to do a 'preview' with one member per team. I actually didn't want to but Sabine and Oliver dragged me to the studios to record it. We are at this moment backstage and watch the clip. Then I come on.

"I really think we have it in us to get to the best 5. We might not have a perfect split because we have no LCS experience but our team is so strong, that we know what others want to do before they even said it." The me on screen says and they all smirk at me. "Well said Lizzy, let's show them where we belong." Oliver says from behind me and I turn to him with a bright smile. "Thanks." I mutter when Ezra walks in suddenly. "Oh my gosh, sorry I saw your clip in the hallway but I walked past xPeke and Febiven and they wished me good luck and hoped I got to play the champion I wanted and they told me that I was good and I can't breathe." He says very rapid and I grin. "Yeah Gilius did the same when we beat him in the promotion tournament." I say and we all sit down talking about how weird it is here. Suddenly a knock is heard on the door and we turn to it. There stands the complete Roccat group. "Sorry that we are interrupting but we just wanted to say Good Luck today. We won't make it easy." Says Airwaks and we smirk. "I will make your jungle miserable." I challenge him and he laughs. "I know I am not supposed to say it, but you are a girl. We will crush your jungle." He says and I smirk. As they leave I turn to Sabine. "I need Nida and a leash." I tell her and she sees what I am gonna do. "Wards around their blue and steal it?" She asks and I nod.

Around 6:50pm, a girl comes to pick us up. As we arrive and get our keyboard and mouse and we are checked, I see Sjokz on the screen. My heart starts to beat rapidly as I see her and Erik notices that my eyes are glued on her. "You got it Lizzy, you are a tad whipped." He whispers teasingly and I sigh. We are directed to the stage and we plug in our equipment. As I log in to our TeamSpeak, I hear the guys talk. "Lizzy, we are going to run Lucian and Thresh botlane if they let us." Erik informs us and I turn to Joe. "What is our focus on?" I ask and Sabine answers me. "You and mid. Bot is going more laid back, top is probably gonna go Maokai and we want you to pick a champion that is compatible with Ezra. I turn to Ezra and he nods. "It's time for them." He answers me. Everyone looks at us. "Ezra and I had this aggressive passive comp. Ezra would go something mana-less like Katarina and I would go Poppy or Xin Zhao. What we had was engage and something to cc them." I say and I hear Sabine holding in her laughter. "We need you to play Nidalee, but her traps can give you the cc we need." Sabine tells us and I nod. "And Ezra, stay away from Ziggs and Orianna. These are the key champions, like Lizzy has her Shyvana and Xin. The rest, try to get as much CC as possible. Jhin and Thresh botlane I prefer instead of the Lucian-Thresh botlane." She tells us and Aidan hums in agreement. "And Joe, just go something you feel safe with. I think Darius is something we could use. We will keep it last pick together with thresh, depending on what their first picks are." She tells us and I nod

Then we are in the pick and ban phase. We all start to laugh as their first ban is Shyvana. "I think they saw me play it in the challenger promotion tournament." I hiccup and another laughter erupts. Joe quickly bans away Ekko. The follow up ban is from them is Ziggs. "Yepp, they watched it." Erik hiccups and I smile broadly. I turn to Joe. "Ban away Caitlyn. Steeelback loves her." I tell him and he nods, banning her away. Their last ban is Trundle. "That's an all-round ban. I think the last ban should be around their Midlaner." I say and they nod. "I will ban Viktor. Then we can instalock Ezra's Azir." Joe tells us and we all nod. They lock in Sivir and I look at Aidan. "Lucian prior pick or are we gonna wait?" I ask and he turns to Joe. "Prior pick Nidalee." Suddenly Sabine says with the last 5 seconds going in. I lock her in and I notice that Airwaks facepalms himself. "Nida was in their comp." Erik says and I laugh. They lock in Lee Sin and Twisted Fate. "R.I.P." Ezra says and I nod. "Lock in the ADC and Support. We have to keep them in the dark with Darius." Joe says and I nod. Thresh and Lucian are locked in and all eyes are on the toplane now. As they lock in Poppy and Nami, I turn to Joe. "You counter Poppy, I say do it." And he nods, instalocking Darius and selecting Dunkmaster Darius. I turn to them. "Everyone has a skin?" I ask and everyone hums. Sabine tells us about how she expects us to play safe. As soon as we are in game, we throw deepwards in their jungle. "Lee Sin spotted at the blue." I suddenly hear Ezra say. I run there and throw my spear. What I didn't notice was that the blue was already gone and that Lee was recalling with barely HP left. My spear killed him and I got an easy first blood. I laugh secretly as Erik screams "REKT SON." We all laugh and go on. I decide to camp bot since they swapped lanes. As Sivir goes a bit too deep, I throw my spear at her and jump, getting Aidan a kill and myself their Nami. I pretend to purr in the microphone and the guys laugh.

23 minutes in the game, and I managed to steal two dragons, made an amazing Baron call and we now have our eyes on their nexus. I throw a spear at Airwaks who is passing by as I see the last nexus tower going down. We all have our focus on the nexus and ignore the players. It's a mistake. They kill us all and try to push back, but don't notice that bot is completely open and the minions backdoor. We all throw off our headsets and hug. "We won!" Erik screams and I smile, pulling him in a hug. We walk to Roccat to shake hands and Airwaks looks at me. "You are a girl but play better than many man." He says with a small smile and an ashamed look. I pull him in a hug. "I might be a girl but never underestimate the spears." I whisper in his ear. He smiles and I walk to the others, past the public giving them a high-five and back to the PC.

Game 2 starts not too much after and I smile. I laugh as they ban away Nidalee and Darius. Joe got a penta and since then they always ignored him or 1v5'ed him. They also ban Ryze and Ezra groans. As we ban away Yasuo, Lissandra and Lucian, the fight for the picks begin. We manage to get Irelia, Nautilus, Orianna and Kog'maw. The only thing we had to do with the last pick is get me a jungler. I think and suddenly it pops up. "Give me Amumu." I say and they look at me. "They got a Draven and a Graves." I hear Ezra say. "But they also have Thresh and Swain. Give me Amumu." I say and Erik locks it in. People begin chanting and vaguely I hear Krepo say about 'Surprising pick' and 'does is describe her feelings?'. I put my middle finger in his direction and the audience laughs. The last Roccat lock in is Ekko. "It is Ekko jungle I think." Joe says, and as soon as we are in loading screen I notice he is right. "Okay play safe all." I say.

What happened this game, should've been censored. I hit all my bandage tosses and managed to camp the hell out of their Graves. Instead of giving him a steady lane, I made myself a wanted target. In fact, when I popped my head in lane on half HP, I would be chased down. Roccat fell for 90% of the baits and around 30 minutes they made a desperate Baron call. We pretended we weren't near, but I was in the tribush near there. When the baron had 2k HP left, I bandage tossed my way in, smited and died. But the rest had Baron buff and we were heading for their base. Suddenly I realised how scumbag we played. "Guys have mercy and don't toy around. Finish them." I told them and they hummed. In a minute we had their nexus down and stood up, hugging each other and celebrating our first victory. We gave the Roccat players a hand when a Riot member signalled me to come. "Do you want to be on the post-game lobby?" He asks and I nod. "Totally fine with me." I say and he takes me backstage after I unplugged my gear and told my team. He walks me to the studio where they are watching the Vitality vs UoL and the man introduces me. "Guys, I brought "FeedMe" with me." He says. I see her head turn and my heartbeat picks up. "Hi, I am Eefje." She says and taps on the couch that I have to join her. I sit down and watch how Vitality just destroys the Unicorns. We get a signal that they have to move to the analyst desk. Eefje pulls her dress straight and walks back, her hips swaying. Every man looks at her and I look to. As they are seated and I joined them, we place on our headsets and wait to begin.


	4. Chapter 2

Quinn

There we sat, talking about all the games. Sjokz and Deficio really tried pulling me into the conversation. And as the show went on, I started to open up more. "And then to the Darkness My Friend game against Roccat. Lizzy, who taught your team how to be respectful disrespectful?" Sjokz asks and I smirk. "It is a matter of saying a girl isn't a good jungle because she is a girl. Airwaks made a mistake there and I think he paid for it. Viewers at home, don't underestimate girls. They are dangerous supports already, and now we march for the rest of the rift." I say staring in the camera. Krepo laughs pretty hard and I start to laugh too. "Also Krepo lost his mind." Deficio says and I look at him. "Maybe you should calm him?" I say with huge, innocent eyes and also Sjokz and Deficio now completely loses it. "You are worse that Kobe, Phreak and Rivington together." Krepo hiccups and I smile. Sjokz gets herself together and shakes her head. "Phreak, I am sending this one to you to make her a little more normal." She says and I look sheepishly at her. "That isn't Nasussary." I say, pretending to be shocked and Deficio and Krepo start tickling me. "Never mind Phreak, we are keeping her." Sjokz says and I smile. "But seriously, talk us through the games." She says and I smile. "Our first game was all guessing. We didn't knew what to expect, except a hard jungle. That is why we warded their blue, knowing we took a risk there, but doing it anyways. When I ran to their Blue, I didn't notice it was already gone, that the spear hit and killed Airwaks, I mean it was unbelievable. I backed and ignored the screams. I said GG because of first blood when I realised it was me who drew it." I say and they all smile.

About 20 minutes later we are wrapped up. I give them all a hug, Sjokz a little more awkward than Deficio and Krepo, but she returns it. My heart speeds up as I walk down. Sjokz walks with me. "Where is your team?" She asks and I smile. "Home already. Our home is not even 5 minutes walking from here." I say and she looks at me. "Seriously? That is pretty relaxed to be honest with you." She tells me and I smile. I give a flirtatious wink to a passing Rekkles before moving along. "Are you the one to have one night stands?" Sjokz suddenly asks and I shake my head. "To be very honest with you, I am still a little lonely virgin." I tell her and she smiles. "Ah that kind, the best kind of flirts. The one that doesn't even get your hopes up." She says and I nod. "Sjokz, I forgot my bag." I suddenly say and she smiles. "It is Eefje Lizzy, and you didn't forget it, it is still in your team room and we are near that." She says, dragging me along with her. I smile as she hands me my backpack with my mousepad and water bottle. "I will see you later." She says and I smile, leaving.

The next morning I am up at 4am. I know, I slept less than 4 hours, but I adore getting up early and spending time hurdling. I walk to the kitchen in my sports clothes and grab an apple, when Oliver comes down. "Where are you going?" He asks and I smile. "To the hurdling club, 10 minutes away." I say, taking a bite from the apple. He nods and looks at my stuff. "Never thought you were the girl to sport a lot." He suddenly says and I smile. "I usually do it two times a week. Monday and Friday. Normally no one is up, but you got up early today too." I say and he nods. "Heading out for an early training." He says and I smile. I fill my bottle with water and bid my goodbye to him, before walking to the hurdling club. The truth is that I often practise with the Olympic team. They are always here around 5am and start training. Their trainer saw me struggle when I did it for the first time in weeks, and at this point I could outrun some of them. My legs were pretty long and I had a good feeling of when I had to jump and how to land. I gave on of the girls a high-five when suddenly their coach walks up to me. "Are you this girl?" She asks me, showing an article on the eSports page of the newspaper. "Yes, that is me." I say as I see my photo. The trainer looks at me. "You game and sport?" She asks me in shock and I nod. "You play better when you sport and live healthy. I try to hurdle at least twice a week and I go to the gym once a week." I say and she nods in approval. "You are quick learner. We need girls like you, who understand, live healthy and perform better." She tells me with a bright smile. I thank her before heading to the cooldown section.

Around 7am I walk in. Oliver hands me a protein shake and I drink it. "Damn this is good." I say and he smiles. "You look good. How was training?" He asks and I smile. "Kind of decent. Do you have Berliner Morgen-Zeitung?" I suddenly ask and Oliver throws it to me. I get to their eSports page and smirk. "Oliver look, we are in a German newspaper." I say with a broad smile when Sabine walks down. "What is this excitement all about at 7 in the morning?" She asks and I point to the newspaper. "We made it to the German news." I say with a broad smile and head to my room to grab clean clothes before heading for the shower. When I return, I see Sabine posting it on our twitter and Facebook. "It is sooo weird. We played one day and we hit the news." She says and I nod. "And they want my pretty face. Be honest Sabine, we all know you are jealous." I say and she shows me her tongue.

That afternoon we head to the LCS stadium again, for the opening game against G2. We are in our room talking through our strategies. "First game is okay to lose, I want us to tie at least." Sabine explains and I nod. "I need an Olaf or Nautilus or Trundle." Joe says and I nod. "If we could do the triple tank in the first game? That is the red side game." I say and they nod, all except Erik. "How do you want to execute that?" He asks and I smile. "Easy. We lock them in. If they have someone with dashes, I take Poppy jungle. If Joe is against something like an Vladimir or Pantheon, we give him Nautilus. But I prefer you on Nautilus, because Joe can pick what he wants then." I say and they nod. "And me?" Ezra asks and I smile. "I think it is time to show Perkz that he is not the only midlaner in town. Pick Lissandra first game." I say and he nods.

As soon as we are settled on stage and we are in the pick and ban phase, I look at what they ban. It is a Vladimir. "So far Trundle top. Prioritize Trundle and Nautilus. Poppy can be picked later." I say and they nod. Joe bans away Ryze, to be followed by an Orianna ban by Expect. "Who next?" Joe asks and I smile, turning to Sabine. "Shall we take away Azir?" I ask her and she hums in approval. Erik manages to catch Perkz sigh in frustration. "I think he wanted that one." He says as Expect bans away Kalista. "Ban away Caitlyn." I say and Joe looks at me. "Are you mad?" He says and I shake my head. "Zven is a beast on Caitlyn. We need that champion to go away." I say and Ezra tunes in. "She is right, we don't want him fed on Caitlyn." He says and Joe bans Caitlyn away too. Erik suddenly snickers. "We messed up what they wanted, Zven is panicking." He giggles and we smile. They lock in LeBlanc first and I smile. "Nautilus and Trundle?" I say, locking in Erik's Nautilus. Joe locks in Trundle and I see the surprise on the caster's faces. G2 locks in Ezreal and Gragas. "Who now?" I hear Ezra ask and Sabine tunes in. "Get Lulu Ezra. Forget the plan with Lissandra, LeBlanc is super weak against Lulu and you are awesome on her." Sabine says and I nod. "She is right Ezra." I tell him and he nods, locking it in. Aidan smiles. "Let's leave Poppy open as last pick, and let me Pick my ADC." He says and we hum in approval. He locks in Jinx. "Rules are made to be broken, like my kit." He smiles and I laugh. G2 last picks are Morgana and Elise. "That is a Gragas top, let me Trundle." Joe says and I nod. "Lock in Poppy Erik." I say and he nods. Erik and I trade Nautilus and Poppy and I get the right masteries and runes with my Noxus Poppy skin.

The game starts pretty rough for both teams. We catch them invading in my jungle and try to zone them out. Ezra does manage to pick up first blood against Perkz, but they get Joe in return. "Early camp on mid." He says and I nod. I get to level 4 first, and then head to Ezra. "I am coming for your ass LeBlanc." I say. Perkz doesn't see me and as soon as he 'pushed' back Ezra, I come in and hit him with my E in the tower. He dies. "That was dirty." Erik says with a broad smile. I laugh. "Since when does it matter to you?" I ask and he nods. "True." He says and I run to bot, to punish Zven and Mithy for overextending. "Poppy is getting fed. I am gonna back and then make a run for Dragon." I say and Ezra smiles. "We need that HP regen dragon for the tanks yeah." He says. I kill Zven and Mithy another time and head to dragon, followed by Aidan and Erik. Ezra kills Perkz before helping.

After that, the game went fast. They camped Joe so at one point, we all headed top and created a nice teamfight, which we won with a trade 2 for 5. I was shut down together and Erik died too, but we managed to get the tier 1 and 2 towers from top. G2 was coming back mid game, but when I caught Perkz at my blue, I killed him and Zven who was near too. That was for them a loss, because they couldn't come back. We ended at 45 minutes after they defended their base for 15 minutes and stole a baron from us. We shook their hands as a GG for the first game before heading backstage. Sabine and Oliver radiated. "They didn't see that coming. We need to leave them. It is time." She says and I look at her. "What do you mean Sabine?" I ask and she smiles. "It is time to show what 5 social misfits that headed straight from solo queue can do. "I am allowed Rek'sai top?" Joe asks hyped and Sabine nods. "I need either Zilean or Thresh in game too. Lizzy, we want you on Shyvana, since that is a comfort pick for you. Ezra, bring out your Ziggs." She tells us and I nod. "For bot I suggest we let it open until we are on stage. If we prior pick the ADC, then the Mid and Top, and final the jungle and support, they are confused what we want." I say and they nod. "Also run double TP instead of ignite. My preference is on Ezra, Erik running ignite." She tells us and we nod. I quickly grab something to drink and then we head back to the stage.

Game 2 is confusing, and we play it very messy. Everything is a mess, we didn't play to our full potential and the only reason we manage to win is because I camped Perkz, making him useless in teamfights. I give the guys a hand and Zven pulls me in a quick hug. We walk past the public, giving them a high-five before heading backstage. As soon as we are in the team room, except Ezra who is interviewed at the moment, we all sit down. "I fucked up pretty badly." I say and they turn to me. "You didn't. No one played to their full potential. Erik hit barely any hooks, Ezra's farm was trash, I didn't view the map actively and Aidan also messed up botlane. No one is to blame really." He says as we get ready for our second fanmeeting this week. Suddenly G2 is at our door. "Very well played." They say and we shrug. "Mere luck. That second game, we messed it up so hard." I hear Joe say and I nod. "Nonsense, every time Lizzy showed up in lane, we almost instantly wanted to flash away. The only reason that it was this close was because we made like 2 good shotcalls. You guys are gonna go far." Perkz says and I smile. "Who are you against next week?" He suddenly asks and I think. "Unicorns and Vitality." I say and they nod. "Good luck then, we face Vitality too and Fnatic." Zven tells me. We say our goodbyes and take Ezra's stuff to the fanmeeting area, and he joins in right before we enter. We stand in front of the screen and see the people. At least more than we had yesterday. I turn my mind off and start signing the stuff put in my hands by our fans.


	5. Chapter 3

Quinn

It was week 5 at this moment and everything was going pretty good. We were 5-1-2 at this moment. We were tied for fourth place with H2k now. We lost the games against H2k and Vitality but managed to tie with Fnatic. At this moment all possibilities were open but we sure made a strong first impression. We only had to play one more game against Splyce before having to play all the teams again. In the meanwhile we had midlaner week, where Ezra was invited to the desk on the Friday to talk about the midlane. I and Oliver trained a lot together in the gym and often dragged the rest of the team with us. The Olympic hurdling team was off to Rio and I now trained alone. People noticed that we all had a different mentality from the other players and were often interested in how "scrubs" came so far.

It was Monday evening and I was streaming some ranked. I locked in Xin and looked at one of the comments in the chat. "No everyone is home, but most of them are to the gym with Oliver. And Sabine? Yeah I don't know where she is." I say with a huge smile. Suddenly another comment pops up. "Do you ever consider inviting girls into your gaming house? Of course not, then the boys won't focus on me anymore." I say in a joking tone and smile as we go into the loading screen. Suddenly the subscriber notification pops up. "Welcome FeedMe's hungry lover to the stream! And welcome to the Food squad." I say with a huge smile as I run to the Blue Buff in game. "Awesome name by the way." I say and play. Suddenly a donation pops in. "You got to love the girl power in the LCS. Thursday at my desk?" The message says and I look. "Sjokz, obviously someone is messing with my donations alert. Sjokz, you have my number, just text me if you want to." I say with a smile as I gank bot, giving our Ashe a first blood.

After the game I decide to do a Q&A. The chat goes wild as I go away to get some tea. When I return I see rude questions like: "With who have you had sex?" and "When are you getting some D?" But one question makes me smile. "Do you have a crush? That is a good question XseikaX, and yes I do, and you could know the person where I am talking about too." I say and the next question is immediately: "Is it a proplayer?". "No it isn't guys, I have 4 pros here in my home, that is enough." I say and drink some tea. "Is it a girl? Asks Elopine. Maybe Elopine, but also maybe a boy." I say and smile. "One more queue?" I ask the viewers as I start another ranked queue.

The next day I am woken up by Oliver. "Holy shit what have you done?" He hisses and I yawn. "Wussup?" I ask and sit up. He hand me the daily dot and I read the headline. "FeedMe admitted that she might be bisexual" the headline reads and I shrug. "Oliver, if they ask, I joked." I say and he looks at me. "Scrims in a hour. Wake up the guys. Sabine's orders." He says and I nod, dressing up and waking up the guys.

Next Thursday we are backstage for the game against Splyce when suddenly a rioter approaches us. "I want FeedMe after the game to go to the studios. Eefje want her to analyse the game." The boy says shyly and I nod. "Tell her I will be there." I tell him and he nods. We are scanned before being handed our keyboard. We are the first game, in the LCS1 studio. We plug in our keyboards and mouse and lay our mousepads down. Sabine puts her hand on my back for a second. "Play safe." She whispers and I nod.

5 minutes later everyone is ready and we now wait for the game to go in champ select. We are talking about random things as suddenly Ezra smiles. "Guys I just realised, Splyce asked Lizzy to join when she hit challenger before any of us did. We need to kick their ass." He says and I roll my eyes. "Don't feed your ass of while doing it." Joe says and I roll my eyes. "Babies you are." I say innocently and Erik almost chokes on his coffee. We all laugh while the audience looks at us with a frown. One of the Riot employees quickly cleans up the spilt coffee and second later, we are in champ select. Sabine starts talking about our draft. I am not that interested, since my only job today is to play a champion and let the team do the rest. Sabine tells something about the cohesion between bot and mid and how I and top should keep roaming and doing unexpected stuff. About 10 minutes later, we are in the loading screen. We have Rumble top, Hecarim in the jungle, Yasuo mid and Thresh bot with Kalista while Splyce decided to go with Maokai top, Elise jungle, Viktor mid and Nami bot with Sivir.

The first game isn't spectacular. Complete early game and mid we are even. Joe loses first blood as Viktor and Elise roamed top as soon as his ward expired, but I managed to clean it up with Ezra after he died. Ezra got his triple to return to lane as I ran down to gank bot. We managed to take Nami down and took the Cloud dragon. "Movement speed Heca incoming." I say as I ult in mid to take out Viktor. After that Splyce caught me off guard in my jungle and camped bot pretty hard. When we had a teamfight last game, I knew it would decide everything.

We started the fight after Ezra took the tier 1 tower down. They went ham, trying to kill him, not noticing how we came from behind. I ulted and ghosted into them, getting them scattered out of formation. Aiden picked up a penta before we headed to their base, making good use of their deathtimes to break open mid to the inhibitor before backing off and running for Baron. We ended the game at 43 minutes when I got them to get me bot with Aidan and Erik, so Joe and Ezra backdoored. We went backstage to talk about the next game.

Game 2 was weird. Splyce knew how to force us back now with the teamcomp we picked. We had Mordekaiser top, Olaf jungle, Lissandra mid and Lucian bot with Thresh against Gragas top, Elise jungle, Azir mid and Braum with Ashe bot. We lost early game pretty hard after they all found me in my jungle and I got taken down. Midgame we got stable again after I camped bot and got fed. But late game we were even until 52 minutes. We both had the tier 3 turret at mid down and we had our inhibitor. We knew we had to play safe. We went for Baron to bait them in, only to find them doing it. I flashed in to smite it, using my ult to stay alive and we all went ham. I picked up a triple and Joe and Ezra both got one too. We ran to their midlane where a huge wave was and we pushed into their base. As soon as the victory screen popped up, I pulled of my headset pulling Ezra in a hug. We hugged before shaking Splyce's hands. Sencux pulled me in a quick hug and I smiled. As soon as I was backstage I was led to the studios. Ezra quickly threw my bottle of water at me so I could drink and I followed the Rioter. As soon as I got in, a headset was planted over my ears and I was put on the seat next to Vedius. He smiles and I smile back. "A minute until we are live." A voice says as I see Eefje avoiding my eyes. I bite my lip as we see Krepo and Quickshot sending it back. From there my instinct to put the people first takes over.

"Thank you Quickshot and I am so glad we could convince FeedMe to join while she was hungry. Well at least, that is what her gameplay let us think today. FeedMe, tell us what you thought of the game?" She asks and I shrug. "We could've done better in so many ways. I am just super glad we were able to pull out a victory here because I messed it up pretty badly. They caught me out where I should've had vision control, and I think the complete team messed up in so many ways possible." I say and she nods. Deficio turns to me. "That outplay on top in Game 1, could you tell us how you were able to clean it up?" he asks and I smile. "Yeah it wasn't that hard. Ezzieboy told us Viktor went back in the fog of war behind his turret and we hadn't seen Elise at all, so we decided to head top, sadly a bit late. When SeaAngel told us that there were three people top, we ran as quickly as possible. So when we got them together in a whirlwind of CC, it wasn't that hard to finish them off. And we let Ezzieboy take TP so he could give extra map pressure. When he got the triple, he could safely back and TP back to lane, giving their Viktor a huge disadvantage." I say and they nod. "Something I would like to highlight still, is your very random Baron steal." Tsepha says and I blush. "We were desperate and all I heard was 'Smite it woman' so I did." I say with a smile and they laugh. Eefje goes on to the next game and turns to Tsepha and Deficio and me. "Predictions UoL against Fnatic?" She asks and I smile. "Fnatic has the biggest chance of winning, they can execute a lot of comps better than the Unicorns." I explain and Deficio nod. "I am with her. Fnatic can execute much more comps in a higher level than the Unicorns and they have a lot of advantaged now Bora is back." Deficio says and Tsepha grins. "I think the Unicorns will win, because they have been so dominant, they are fourth now, just under DMF, and only DMF, G2 and Fnatic are above them, so I think they will be strong and show why they are fourth place." He explains and she smiles, sending it back to the casters.

After the post-game lobby is done, we all walk out of the studios. Eefje is dragged away by Quickshot as soon as they reunite and I frown. "Probably one of them has love troubles." I hear Deficio say behind me and I turn to him with a confused look. "Eefje has been experiencing love for someone and Trevor has troubles in paradise with planning his wedding." He explains and I nod. I give him a quick hug. "I better go home." I mutter and he nods. I walk towards the exit when I hear voices talk. It is Eefje and Trevor. "Trevor, I don't understand it. One second I am fine and one look later and I have trouble focussing. I had so much trouble today when _she_ was there." I hear Eefje call out in desperation. I stand near the door, my heart frozen.


	6. Chapter 4

Eefje

I dragged Trevor to the small janitor's closet and closed the door. "What is it Eefje?" He asks me and I look at him. "I don't think I am as straight as I thought I was." I tell him and he looks at me. "Is it that DMF jungler?" He asks me and I nod "It is so weird. The one moment she looks at me and I feel all warm and cosy inside, and the next one she is flirting with men and I am so jealous." I say and he pulls me in a hug. "Trevor, I don't understand it. One second I am fine and one look later and I have trouble focussing. I had so much trouble today when _she_ was there." I tell him and he looks at me. "You sound like me, when I first started to get together with Becca. I was too shy and too proud to admit that she was the part of me that completed me, but now? I am so happy I proposed to her." He says and I shrug. "Yeah but you didn't have to face the fact that you were gay, did you?" I say and he nods. "That is a problem, but wait for it. I am pretty sure that Lizzy isn't who people think she is. Sure, she is flirty but I doubt that any of it is really true. I think she is not as straight as she lets people think she is." Trevor says and I nod, looking down. "I don't know Trevor. I mean, I knew I dated Mitch, and that David and I have been messing for a while before deciding we weren't the true ones for one and another. I gave up on it. I mean I even joked that I date my computer, and then she comes and I don't know anymore." I say and Trevor pulls me in a tight hug. "Eefje, calm, it will be okay." He whispers in my ear and I nod, fighting the tears back. We walk out and I go to my apartment and he to his.

I lay awake in my bed, tossing and turning. At one point I accept the fact that I really can't sleep and get out to drink something. As I boil water for my tea, I see people tagging me in a tweet from DMF_FeedMe. I open the tweet and hold in my breath.

" _Tweet from my heart. Crush officially noticed me. Too excited to sleep. Love my G"_

I gasped. People were suggesting it was either me, Yulia the referee, Krepo or Deficio. I sigh as Mitch send me a text. "Saw her tweet?" He asks and I sigh. "Call?" I ask and he sends back that he is in a skype call with Yulia and Deficio. "Add me too." I send back as I start up my PC. I put on my headset and pick up the call. "I don't believe why everyone is hinting at us though. I mean they all know we aren't the most active on the dating side of life." Martin says and I laugh bitterly. "That is why Martin. Don't you get it. The notice was an obvious hint to the non-dating caster. After I spend time in NA with first David and then Mitch, I gave up on dating. Everyone knows I don't date." I say and Mitch hums. "Also same for me. As soon as Eefje and I were over, I didn't date anymore. Tried, yes, but gave up not much later." He tells us and I sigh. "And the G at the end is a possible hint to a girl. On the EU side, Eefje and I are the only girls that are live. That is why they tagged me in it. They all know we are the only possible girls on the EU side." Yulia adds. "That just doesn't explain Martin." I say after a long silence and suddenly a voice pops up. "It does." Says Mitch and I frown. "What do you mean?" Martin says and Mitch laughs and sends a link in the chat. We all open it and facepalm. It is from Ao3 and it is pretty smutty. "What is this based of?" Yulia asks as we read it. "Week 3 day 1 when Lizzy blew a kiss to the Caster desk. And since Quickshot is clearly engaged, it had to be for Martin." Mitch says with his voice laced in pure bitterness. I sigh and rub my head. "Guys I am going to try to defeat my insomnia and sleep. This is giving me a headache. We will talk tomorrow." I say and they all say goodnight before I disconnect.

The next morning, I wake up after two hours of sleep. I send a text to mama to ask how it is at home and read the Daily Dot. Suddenly I feel an urge to check twitter and open it. I gasp as I see what Lizzy posted. "Seika Laurent new CEO of Darkness My Friend SeikaL_DMF" it reads and a link is added too. I click the link and it links to their brand new website. "DMF starts a CS:GO and Overwatch team, rumours about a Dota2 team." The headline reads. I sigh. Of course this was a next step for them. They are trending. Another tweet pops up from Lizzy. "Also welcome our new Analyst, Freyja! Freyja_DMF" It reads as Freyja poses with Lizzy. I see that Mitch calls me and pick up. "DMF is getting in the game world." He says and I hum, opening my internet browser and googling Seika and Freyja. "Do you know any of the new people she hired?" I ask. "Yes. Seika has been a good friend of Lizzy for a while. Her main mod on Twitch and a trusted person. Freyja is a mystery. Some rumour it is a close friend of the coach, but I doubt it." He tells me and I nod. "I will see you at the rehearsals. I am gonna eat now and then I will head out to get early at work." I say and he closes the call.

Once I arrive backstage, the complete research team is busy with the latest facts. Kikis, who left G2, has now signed with an unknown team, also team was yet to be revealed, and of course Lizzy's tweet had to be treated. I open Instagram to post a "at work" selfie as I see a picture of Lizzy in her sport clothing. It is a clip of her breaking her former record and I can't help but stare at her flat stomach, that is visible because she is wearing a crop top. It isn't tanned or anything, just super flat and it suits her so good. Trevor comes next to me. "How are you doing?" He asks and I shrug. "Just a bit tired. Insomnia kicked in last night, barely 2 hours of sleep." I mutter and he smiles. Becca comes to stand with us and passes me and Trevor a cup of coffee. "Who is on the Post-Game lobby?" He asks and I shrug. "Probably Sencux or Gilius. Maybe Steve or Exileh." I answer and she looks at Trevor. "I got to get back to my place, but have fun tonight." She says, giving him a quick kiss before heading off. "She is amazing." I say and he nods. "And I am lucky that she is mine." He says and I smile.

An hour later we are in the studios. Today it is with Mitch and Andy. We are talking about some last minute things that came in and we check our twitter. I let one of the camera crew guys take a picture of me and post it on twitter. "Live in 10, come join us!" I tweet and I get a tweet back. "But we play last game, can't join :(" Lizzy tweets and my heart flutters. "5 minutes!" A voice behind the camera is heard and I put on my headset, grab my notes and a pen and sit straight. Some last minute touch-ups are done and suddenly we are live again.

"And then the last game, match of the week, Darkness My Friend versus Fnatic. Any thoughts on this match?" I ask. I haven't been too distracted but now DMF pops up, my heart starts to flutter. "I think DMF is gonna show up big time here. Especially FeedMe and I only Jungle have been growing this split. Where FeedMe wanted to be the hero and I only Jungle was the more silent guy in the back, they both grew to be more in balance with the teams. That is a change we haven't seen in Fnatic who really is a team of moments now. Plus the fact that we haven't seen FeedMe play her soloqueue main Evelynn, and let me tell you, she is good with that pick." Mitch says and I smile. "Let me guess, you played against her?" Andy asks and he nods. "She came from behind, ulted and got a quadra before having to use her W to get out." He says and we laugh. "Andy, your expectations?" I ask and he smiles. "I am going with either a tie or Fnatic wins. Ezzieboy and SeaAngel are two different compartments in the team, where Fnatic is a team in every stage. Also if FeedMe picks the off meta Evelynn, there are plenty of ways to counter her, preventing early ganks and making sure she is zoned off." Andy explains. "We are sending this over to Quickshot and Tsepha to cast this game, and see who is going to win." I say and they nod.

An hour and a half later we are super surprised. The first game wasn't that exciting. A facecheck from Yellowstar decided the game. There were FeedMe, I only Jungle and ButtMuppet and they jumped. Because Yellowstar couldn't peel Rekkles anymore, they got I only Jungle a doublekill and when Febiven tried to engage, he got killed by FeedMe. They won the game of that.

But then the second game was different. FeedMe got her Evelynn and was an absolute pain in the ass for everyone. Spirit couldn't spot her but his jungle was gone constantly. What he didn't knew was that she had only been in his jungle. At one point she started to select her targets very well. She went to top, to remove a chance of TP, since the lane was pushed pretty fast. Then she ran botlane to gank and got off a quadra there. She was so fed at the end of the midgame that Fnatic bought the most pink wards in a EU LCS game ever, trying to stop her. At this point she was 8/0/3, and she was hungry for more. She threw away everything she didn't need and soon sleeper build Eve was facing Fnatic. Fnatic was defending their base when suddenly DMF retreated. We assumed they were Baron, and they were, but it was all bait. The ward that was at dragon pit brush showed three members, while FeedMe and SeaAngel were guarding the Baron. As soon as Fnatic appeared there to trade Baron for Dragon, FeedMe popped. We all sat in silence as the announcer voice went: "Shutdown, Double kill, Quadra kill, PENTAKILL, shut down." We stared at the screen. The camera focussed on FeedMe showed her grin as they pushed for their Nexus. "Send PiraTechnics to FeedMe?" I hear someone ask and I nod. "Yes please." Mitch says.

We sit there and look at the screen as FeedMe is being interviewed.

"So FeedMe, this was quite an interesting game, and I forgot to bring my cue cards because I don't think I will need them. Do you think you made Evelynn viable now?" Pira asks and she shakes her head. "Absolutely nod. I just had some good ganks when I got the penta, and SeaAngel knew my weak spots so when Fnatic showed up, he set it all up. We were just super lucky." She says and I look at Mitch. "They weren't" he mouths me and I nod. After a couple more questions, it is send to the shoutcasters and back to us. "Well thank you Deficio and Quickshot, and we are back after this intense last game. I think we all sat there in awe. Mitch can you kick things off with what you thought of the game?" I ask and he looks at me. "I mean I don't think FeedMe is going to see Eve in the next few weeks. She is very dangerous with Evelynn and she knows how to pick her fights. But then her team makes her the eye catcher, which makes me wonder, is there another hidden secret behind the focus on FeedMe." He says and Andy jumps in. "Not only that, but we also saw ButtMuppet being a huge master at baiting the botlane into over extending and then being punished for it by FeedMe or Ezzieboy. I think we have to wonder what they can't play." Andy says and then Exileh, who joined right after his game, opens his mouth. "She is the worst nightmare of every midlaner. We often roam and make sure our side lanes are safe, but she makes it impossible. She knows how to force you from farm to stay alive, and I really think she is the Faker of the jungle. But also Ezzieboy, I think he is the replacement of Febiven or Faker, because holy shit that guy has talent. He knows how to force the enemy in wasting mana while he plans out the ganks way before he calls for it. And ButtMuppet and I only Jungle are the botlane of doom. They have more map awareness than the average player and are very flexible when it comes to picks. Ezzieboy and SeaAngel have a small champion pool but their jungle and botlane makes up for that." Exileh tells us and we nod. "Well lets open the post-game lobby after quite a day." I say and we go on. At this moment we didn't knew what their plans were for the next week, where they faced Fnatic and H2k. We didn't knew about their ideas and drafts. The only thing we did know, was that they had a chance of going to worlds.


	7. Chapter 5

Lizzy

It was week 6, and we were 2nd place at this moment. Our victory is not going unnoticed and even NA players were talking about our chances at getting to worlds. We had an amazing split but we knew that the international stage was too huge for us. I was at this moment in the scrimroom and it was early in the morning. I started up my pc to check some mail and saw to my surprise it was 5am. I just proceeded to check mail, respond to some offers and then fall asleep on my keyboard.

The truth is, because we are doing so ridiculously well, there has been a huge weight on me. We turned the garage into two extra bedrooms so we could have Freyja and Seika living here, people were expecting me to show what I could do and I had to deal with my feelings and emotions. Scrims were going terrible and I felt exhausted. I barely could fall asleep at night and when I did, I woke up even more tired than I was. Sabine wanted to have everyone's focus on me so they could shock with Aidan and Ezra. It was a great idea, minus the fact that everyone had their eye on me too. My ganks became less successful, my plans were always prevailed and also communication had been less. There had been some tension between Ezra and Erik for the last few days and I was left to deal with them. I really felt ill, tired and done. I was ready to sell the spot and do something else. League of Legends is my favourite game, but there was just too much pressure on me. And then the thing with Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere. I loved her and I knew what was up. I heard her talk about a her before I left, and since I was the only girl at that analyst desk that day, it had to be me. When I couldn't fall asleep, I would try to imagine a world with the two of us dating, but I always knew it wouldn't happen. Too much pressure from the fans who absolutely wanted to date us instead of Eefje and me dating. It was just too much pressure on me to handle.

I suddenly feel movement. "She is running a slight fever." I hear Oliver say as a hand is placed on my forehead. "Is it because of the pressure?" I hear a soft female voice ask and I feel the hand going off my forehead. "Let's just cancel scrims and het her in bed. I think that is the best for now. It is just Monday so we can scrim and stuff later." Oliver says softly and suddenly Erik's voice chimes in. "That isn't going to work. Sabine, I know you depend on her but turn down the pressure. Last night she went to bed at 2am because she was training on her Elise because you needed her to master that champion, while she sucks at her. Oliver just said he saw her when he went down at 5.30am to go to the gym, and she was asleep again. That means she barely slept." He sneers at Sabine. Aidan joins in. "She was awake at 4am, because Seika told her to go through business inquiries that she left to Seika because you let her train too hard. Her fans are complaining because she rarely has time." Aidan says in full attack mode. Suddenly I am lifted by two strong arms. "I will take her to bed and then we discuss this." Ezra says from above me and I feel him moving. I fall asleep again soon.

I wake up with an enormous headache and yawn. I sit up and see some painkillers and water on my bed stand. I take it and lay down, looking outside my window. Suddenly the door opens and Oliver walks in. "Lizzy?" He asks and I turn to him. "Hello Oliver." I murmur softly. He sits on my bed and pets my head. "How are you feeling?" He asks and I smile weakly. "I think I can join in the scrims." I say softly and he lets out a sigh. "The team cancelled scrims as anger to Sabine who forces all kind of actions on you. She kind of locked herself up in her room with her laptop and Netflix. So we wait for you to get well, and tomorrow the scrims will continue." He tells me and I get up. "I have to apologize to Sabine. It is all my fault, they are angry with her because of me." I say but Oliver presses me back. "No Lizzy, she got it on herself. She forced you to overextend. We probably suspend her for this week, depending on what Seika and I decide." He says and I nod, laying down. "Want something to eat?" he asks and I nod. He leaves and returns with tomato soup and hands it to me. I eat it and thank him. He presses me a sleepingpill in my hand. "Sleep well Lizzy." He says and I take the pill, falling asleep not much later.

The next morning I awake with a exploded twitter mentionbox. Sabine has been suspended for this week for putting health of players in jeopardy for no important reason. Everyone hinted towards my sudden change of playstyle in the LCS, where everyone knew how to prevent from getting ganked as the reason that she was suspended. People apparently did notice the kilos of make up on my face. We were in the scrimming room talking through stuff when suddenly I got a call. "Why is Eefje calling me?" I wonder aloud and Erik winks at me secretly. I pick it up and I am met by her voice. "Hey Lizzy." She says and I smile. "Hello Eefje, whats up?" I ask, and I hear her laugh at something. "Oh sorry Trevor just said something funny but we wanted to create another DRIVE video, well actually the makers of all the programs wanted it, but I was wondering if you were free this weekend to record it?" She asks and I look at Oliver. "One second Eefje." I say and put the hand over the phone mic. "Do I have anything to attend this weekend?" I ask Oliver and he looks in the Agenda. "Sunday night you have a skype call with the Overwatch staff, but the rest you are free." He says and I nod. I turn back to the phone. "I can come Saturday." I say and Eefje hums. "The producers just nodded yes, so Saturday at 11am?" She asks and I respond with a simple yes. We close the call and I smile. "Guys, I just got asked for a new DRIVE clip." I say and they all smile. "That is actually super awesome!" Oliver says and I nod. We talk about it for a while before returning to scrimming.

Next Thursday we are backstage for the game against H2k. I am the only one in the private room perfecting drafts when suddenly a gentle knock is heard. I turn around and I am met by Rekkles from Fnatic. "Hey." He says as he stands in the door and I smile. "Hey." I say back and he smirks. "Kind of awkward." He murmurs and I laugh. "What is it Martin?" I ask and he looks at me. "The pros want to invite DMF to Gin Chilla, a bar where a lot of us hang out. ButtMuppet and Ezzieboy told me to ask you." He says and I sigh. "You know what Martin? I join in too." I say and I see the surprise in his eyes. "But ButtMuppet said you never went out." He says and I smile. "I don't, but even the most dull person needs to relieve some stress." I say and he smiles. "Need someone to talk to? You just don't seem like the stressed kind of person." He says and I just shrug. "There is just a lot of pressure on me and to be honest, I have been under achieving, I just can't stop playing it to get better. Also the stuff happening in our gaming house forcing me to be in lead 24/7, is also not that good for sleep. I just really feel for Sjokz and her insomnia." I say and he nods. "Know the feeling. Last split, with Bora not there and I having to be the captain, there is just so much focus on you, and everyone expects you to play better that you can. It is stressing. I spend hours just trying to calm down and try to sleep. Then with all tension that can come up within the teamhouse, man I am so not good for that job. Luckily Bora is back and it is all cool again." He says and I smile. "Yeah it isn't here. Constant tension, all gameplay has to be focussed on one player instead on 2 or three, we are actually not that great playing at this moment and people expect us to end in the top 5." I say and he pulls me in a hug. "Just take some sleeping pills and then relax. You will do fine today." He says and I smile. "You good luck against Origin today." I say and he smiles. "I hate first games." He says and I smile. "Know the feeling. Are you a post lobby today?" I ask and he nods. "Then good luck." I say and he leaves. I turn back to the notebook to perfect the draft. Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder. I close the notebook and turn to the hand. It is Ezra. "We need you to eat something too Lizzy." He says and I smile. "I am okay Ezra, I just need to perfect this on points and tactics." I say and he nods. "I guess I can't convince you." He says and I smile. "Tell the team to be here in 15 minutes." I say as he leaves.

15 minutes later I am finishing some wardspots on the rift print we had when the guys walk in and close the door. "Ezra said you made some changes." Joe says and I nod. They stand around me and I talk them through. "Against H2k we need to play as safe as possible. In our original plan we barely had any wards on the points where we can choke them. Baron has to be perma warded after 25 minutes and we have to create a chokepoint around our blue or red. Also we are gonna run two sightstones. Erik and I will build that in. Also on the draft idea we had with a lot of CC, I changed it a little. Ezra needs either a Azir or Viktor to make the current idea running, but I think a Lissandra will work too. Especially if Joe or I get Olaf. We just can run to the backlines and drag the squishy champions down. Erik and Aidan need the tank there to peel Aidan away when needed. I recommend Braum because of the knockup. Any ADC that has dashes or an ability to escape over a wall is welcome. So a Vayne, or Lucian, is perfect in this comp." I explain and they look at me. "What about Jungle?" I hear Joe ask and I smile. "I think this is where we have to consider me playing Ekko to be honest. Either Ekko or Olaf. Because if we get Joe a Shen and I get Olaf, we have global pressure and teamfights. If Joe gets Olaf and I have Ekko, we have a lot more flank potential." I explain and Oliver looks. "I think Shen and Olaf is better. First game we have red side, which means we can lock Shen and Olaf down for you." Oliver says and I nod. "Agreed, but we also need them to feel safe. I suggest Olaf and Braum first pick, instead of Shen. If they leave it open, we take it." I explain and they nod. "One last thing, positioning. Erik and I will be frontline with a possibility for Joe to join in. Ezra and Aidan need to stay behind otherwise they will be caught out." I say and they nod. Oliver smiles and pulls me in a hug. "You should consider a role as coach as soon as you retire, you seem pretty alert on teamcomps." He says and I smile. I look at the screen and see the Fnatic guys in game. "We are gonna kick H2k back home." I hiss with a smirk and Erik jumps on my back. I smile as he whispers in my ear: "And win Eefje for yourself." I blush a deep red and they all laugh. "What did you tell her Erik?" Ezra asks and he smiles. "That she is gonna win Rekkles over." He lies and they all laugh. I swallow and look at the screen, nervous for the match.


	8. Chapter 6

Lizzy

We walked on stage for our H2k game and I was super nervous. I knew a lot depended on me at this moment, and it was hard to carry all this pressure. Ezra gave me a quick hug and we sat down, plugging in our mouse and keyboard and thinking. "So since we have no coach today, I just want to say this really quickly, we will play the comp we want to play. If we don't get the CC comp, let's move on to our favourite, the tanky comp." I say and Joe looks at me. "And what about aggression?" He asks and I look at him. "Rather not. H2k will expect that, at least in game 1 they want us to play like that. I prefer to see something for top picked first." I say and Joe sighs. "Lizzy don't mess this up." He says and I look at him. "What?" I say flaming with anger and Erik sighs. "Hello 0-4 this week." And I look at him. "I was trying to be motivational, but I guess since neither of you four watched ANY games of H2k this split." I hiss and Ezra looks at me. "Erik is right, this is not going to work." He says and I sigh. "Then take over and don't expect me to catch you when it goes down." I say and Joe takes over. "Take the aggressive comp." He says and Aidan hums. "So Kog'maw Tahm?" Erik asks and Ezra agrees. "Yes. Great idea! I really want to play Ryze this game, is that okay?" He asks and I am silent, while they discuss everything. "Lizzie goes Elise. She can pin down the targets while we get Aidan fed." Joe says and all the heads turn to me. "I guess that is because I trained a little too hard trying to play her?" I hiss and he looks at me. "Shut up guys." Erik says and I sigh. "I will do whatever the living fudge you command." I say and he sighs. As we finally hit pick and ban phase, everyone but Ezra was tilting. We banned away Jhin, Shen and Olaf, H2k banned away Thresh, Kalista and Shyvana. As Joe locks in his Darius, Erik and Aidan are discussing. "Pick me Tahm Lizzie, Ezra can pick his Ryze." Erik says and I simple do that after H2k locked in Gragas and Karma. With Ryze and Tahm locked in, we opened a bit of the strategy we were going to play so Lucian is locked in with Mao'kai. I sigh as I see Erik locking in Elise and Aidan Kog'maw. H2k ends with a Braum pick and I sigh. "Good luck." I mutter as we enter the rift.

It starts horrible as a lane swap goes wrong. Erik and Aidan didn't ward so when their complete team dived them, giving Freeze a double, and creating instant flame on me. "You should've been there." Erik screams in the mic and I bow my head, farming and fighting back tears. "Hold on until late game." I manage to get out and then Joe starts flaming. "Maybe you should stop saying that. You always say that and then we lose." He hisses and I bite my lip. "Sorry." I murmur and go farming, ganking Ezra and building up for Dragon. Around 25th minute, a teamfight opens and I go all in. I pick up a double before retreating with less than 50 hp. Joe and Erik die and Joe glares at me, holding back his comment as he buys his items. We lose 5 minutes later after they caught Joe and Ezra out and I tried to help them. As Erik and Aidan follow and die with me, and we are aced, game 1 has ended. We go backstage and I sit down on the chair. "What was that Lizzie? We need to win, not you to throw?" Joe starts and I stand up, looking him straight in the eye and Sigh. "What is your problem with me? Shoot it. If you want me replaced, I can call our sub in England so he can play next week for us." I say and Joe looks at me. "You think I want that? Lizzie I want you to stop and acting like you are the queen. I know you are our boss, but please shut up and listen to us. You never do that." He says and Ezra intervenes. "She does listen to us Joe, this is not the time to fight. We have to play and win." He says and I look at him. "He is right." I say as the rioter gets back to get us to the stage again. I walk on stage and straight to my headset, but I do hear Pulse saying: "FeedMe looks like she is feeling terrible. Is she maybe still sick?" He asks and Deficio reacting: "I think she and her team aren't communicating on the level they are supposed to." And after that all the noise goes away as I put on my headset. Joe and Erik are discussing tactics and Aidan and Ezra are suggesting champs. "I think we need Lizzie's opinion." Aidan suddenly says and I look at him. "Why would you?" I ask and he smiles. "Lizzie, even though we didn't agree first game, you were right on what they expected us to go." He says and I look at him. "I don't know what they want to play now. They expect us to do whatever we do best as soon as one is tilting, and that is throwing. And since both me, Joe and Erik are tilting, they expect us to don't think what we are picking and go with our soloqueue picks." I say and Aidan lowers his gaze from me. "You are right." He says and I roll my eyes. "No shit Sherlock." I say and Ezra smiles. "Let's play this crazy comp." Ezra says as Joe bans away Elise. H2k reacts with banning away Karma. "Get Lucian away." I say and Joe bans that, to be reacted by a Kog'maw ban. "I think we need to ban Malzahar." Erik chimes in and I nod. Joe bans Malzahar and H2k reacts with banning Nidalee. "Plan?" Joe ask and I smile. "Play a tank. Ezra, want to pop out your Akali?" I ask and he nods. "I will pull out my little invisible girl." I say and Joe laughs. "Sorry to break this to you Lizzie, but you suck at Evelynn." He says and I nod. "Guess I suck at this game." I say and think about it. "Well then Sej. The only one I think that might work." I say and Joe shakes his head. "Go Zac." He says and I look at him. "What?" I say, highly insulted. "You know I can't play Zac." I hiss and he laughs. "Then go feeding with Eve." He says and I bite my lip. As H2k locks in Gragas, we still are arguing on what to pick. I don't hover anything but wait until Joe locks in Shen and I instalock Evelynn. "Liz." Joe hisses and I ignore him, as H2k picks Sivir and Karma. I look at the screen as Jinx and Nautilus are locked in for us and I just stare blankly at the crowd as H2k locks in Ahri and Poppy. Erik locks in Akali and we get ready to play. Our communication is non-existent. It feels like soloqueue, no one talk. Sometimes it is "Gank bot" or "Dragon is warded" but that is where our communication stops. H2k is up 12-6 with kills and got 6 of our turrets, all tier 1 and 2 turrets, while we only have a botlane turret. And let's not talk about how they are up in Dragons. I suddenly find myself surrounded by 3 and manage to ult and escape with my W. Joe starts to tilt and I sigh. I am the one who died the least, I have 1 kill and 5 assists and still Joe managed to flame me. A 1/1/5 Evelynn is getting a pain in the ass, but a 0/3/0 Shen is just to laugh about. "Botlane is dived by 4 people." Erik says and I run down and manage to peel away Aidan and manage to kill VandeR and Erik manages to drag down Jankos before I have to retreat and Erik dies. Joe is silent but I know what will happen after the game. H2k manages to kill Ezra an Joe too and I have to retreat, seeing our inhibitor turret and inhibitor drop and a nexus turret. Aidan and I run back in and manage to take down Ryu before we need to retreat ourselves. In the meanwhile we have to let Dragon go uncontested to Jankos and Freeze and despite our tries, we are too underpowered to come back into the game. One last push from H2k and it is game over. We rise, shake their hands and take our keyboards and mouse and mousepads backstage. I give my keyboard and mouse to the guy who needs to keep them, walk to our room and grab my stuff. Joe enters. "What was that? You absolutely sucked and you fed your ass off. I honestly don't get why everyone is hyped about you. You are as good as Roccat is at this moment and they are last." He says and my eyes are filled with tears. "So that is how you think about me. Fine. I will call our sub to Berlin. I won't play next week. If possible I will sub him in tomorrow." I say and leave with my stuff. Once home I grab my jogging clothes and put them on, together with my running shoes and make my way out with my phone and headset. I put on my running list and put it on maximum volume, turning my phone into plane mode and start running.

Hours later I return and ignore the fact that all the lights were on. "Thank god." I hear someone say as I walk in. On the couch is the team, in the middle of them all Joe. "I don't care whatever you say." I say, walking to my room and locking the door. I call our sub and he can get out the next plane, landing at 10am the next morning. I take my laptop and mail Riot the change before looking at my messages. Plenty from the team, one from Martin and one from Seika. I decide to look tomorrow and lay in bed, trying to get some sleep.

The next morning I am out of bed at 3am. I came home around 11pm, and I didn't sleep. I dress and unlock my door, making my way to the kitchen. On the couch lays Oliver. I grab a blanket from our laundry cabinet and lay it over him before getting myself an apple and eating it, looking outside. "Lizzie?" I suddenly hear and I turn around. Oliver sits up sleepily. "Go to sleep Oliver, it is 3.30am." I say and he shrugs. "I don't care. I heard that you were calling in the sub." He says and I nod. "He lands at 10am today. I will pick him up." I say and Oliver looks at me. "How long will he be playing?" He asks and I shrug. "Preferably until the end of play-offs. After that I hope to have found a replacement for me so I can take back over the CEO position of Darkness My Friend Gaming LLC." I say and Oliver looks at me. "Don't. Joe felt pretty guilty." He says and I look at him. "I guess. The thing is he is right. I never listen, I suck at jungling and I also think the hype shouldn't have been all around me. Not that it is going to last long." I say and he looks at me. "What is it?" He asks and I shrug. "Don't want to become a greater burden Oliver, just enjoy me being here." I say and he looks at me. "What is it that I don't know?" He asks and I sigh, looking at him. "I swear, if you tell anyone but Erik, I will murder you." I say and he nods. "Erik found out by accident, and I don't want anyone else to know this, but Oliver, I am lesbian." I say and look down scared of his reaction…


	9. Chapter 7

Lizzie

I looked down as Oliver pulled me in a hug. "And let me guess, you are scared?" He asks and I nod, leaning into him. "You know, even though League isn't known for the kindest community, they will be there to back you up." He says and I look up, greeted by a kind look in his eyes. "People may say it is an illness, but it is a gift, a gift to see the world from a different side that most people see it." He says and I bite my lip. He pulls me to the couch and sits me down, going in front of me. "No matter what, we'll be here. And it doesn't matter what the rest thinks. You are a great jungler, you are a great person in general and we don't want to lose you." He says and I smile, thinking back to when Erik found out I was lesbian, right before we got into the challenger series.

 _1 year earlier_

 _I sit on my bed with the Playboy I "borrowed" from Aidan and looked through it when the door opened. I tried to hide it but Erik grabs it. "The playboy, seriously?" he asks and I shrug. "What?" I say and avoid his gaze and he looks at me. "We can play this dirty or tell me the truth. Are you gay?" He asks and I look up. "Who told you that?" I ask in shock and Erik shakes his head. "Darling, you were eyeing that girl in the club last week when you talked to a hot guy. No one but me noticed." He explains and I look at him. "That doesn't mean anything." I say and Erik holds up the Playboy. "That might not, but with this, it does." He says and I look at him. "Please don't tell anyone, they'll hate me." I whisper and he nods, giving me a hug. "Don't worry, just let's play this final game and then we'll be in a challenger series." He says and I nod and he holds up the Playboy. "I will give it back to Aidan and tell him I found it on the toilet." He says with a smile and I nod. "Thanks." I mutter as he leaves._

I look at Oliver who looks at me with a estimating look. "What's up Oliver?" I ask and he looks at me. "Well, we kind of were wondering if you wanted to replace Sabine for this game." He asks and I frown. "What do you mean?" I ask and he looks at me. "Joe and Aidan did research and as a team owner you are allowed to fill in any spots, only for player you need a special contract. Which means you can be a manager, but also a coach. Now that your sub is coming in, you can do the coaching for today." He explains and I nod. "I will give it a thought. At what time you need it?" I ask and he smiles. "At 9am, if possible." He says and I nod. "You know what, I'll just do it." I say and he smiles. "Thank you!" he says and I smile as I grab my stuff again and walk to the door. "I will be back around 8am I think, and then we'll pick up Alfie." I say and Oliver nods and I jog out the door, to the training park.

When I return with donuts for everyone, Oliver is still the only one up. "I'm back." I say as I put the donuts at the counter and walk to Oliver and drop on the couch next to him. He looks at me as I drink my bottle of water I had with me empty. "You look like shit." He says and I smile. "It rained and I forgot to take off my make up last night." I say and swipe away the mascara marks. Oliver smiles as Ezra walks downstairs. "Hey Liz." He say and I nod and the corner of my mouth pulls up. "Good morning." I say softly and he walks to the kitchen. "WHO BROUGHT THE DONUTS?" He yells enthusiastically and I laugh. "I did." I say and notice how the rest of the team runs down the stairs. "Donuuuuuuutszzzzzzz" Joe screams and I giggle and he turns to me. "Liz, I am sorry." He says and I shrug. "No worries, it was just the truth you spoke. I have our sub, Alfie coming in today. I will just replace Sabine today and after that I will help wherever I'm needed." I say as Ezra turns in. "Well we need you in Summoners Rift, jungle, preferably Shyvana or Evelynn, kicking Fnatic's asses back home." He says and I smile. "That will be all your tasks, but I am not really part of that." I say as I see the hopeful looks in their eyes disappear and defeat take its place. They all get breakfast and sit down at the breakfast table and eat their breakfasts.

Around 4pm everyone is packing their bags. Oliver and I agreed on letting Alfie stay in my room and me taking the couch, so I moved all my stuff to the living room. Alfie also took my area in the player pc corner and I moved all my stuff to the staff area. Oliver looks at me as I grab the notebook. "Where will you sleep after we got your replacement?" He asks and I smile, grabbing a permit and show it to him. "I want our subs to move in too. That is why I asked for a permit to build an extra area for the staff. It's approved." I explain and Oliver smiles. "That's great." He says and I nod, putting it back in the map and checking if I have everything. The guys are already at the door, nervous to go. I smile as I throw Aidan the lanyard and smile. He opens the frontdoor and soon everyone is walking towards the Arena.

Once backstage we sit and wait. We are the first to play and to be honest, I am pretty nervous. "I'll be right back." I say and leave the room, walking to the cantine to get something to drink. I give the G2 guys a small wave as I grab a can of Sprite and look up as a warm hand lays on my shoulder. "You look different without your jersey." Perkz says and I shrug. "Yeah I am not a jungler anymore, and our head coach is suspended until Monday, so FeedMe now is a coach." I say with a smile and he laughs. "I can't believe it that they were suck asses. Joey would kill to have Trick be as scary as you are." He says and I laugh. "Yeah well I just hope our sub will be okay." I say and Perkz turns to me. "Well, I think he'll be. Are you still coming to the club tonight? I believe Martin did invite you." He asks and I nod. "Yeah and prepare to see me drunk." I say and he laughs. "Yeah still don't believe them. Well I will see ya later, need to get back to the guys." He says and I smile. "Good luck Luka." I say and he nods. "You too Lizzie." He says and I walk back. "Calmed down?" I hear when I return and I nod. "So one last thing before we go on stage. I want us to win. We'll ban around Mid and Top, leaving Jungle all up to Alfie. Erik and Aidan, I really want to see you on Sivir and Lulu, but a high chance Rekkles will steal Sivir away. If Sivir is either taken or banned, go Vayne. I know it isn't the best, but a higher chance of becoming an ass late game." I say and he nods. I lay my hand in the midst of the group. Ezra and Joe lay their hands on mine first and soon we are all in. "For DMF." I say as they repeat. We walk backstage and we are scanned and I am handed the headset. We go on stage and I smile.

The series ended disastrous. Alfie wasn't confident enough and Lulu was banned, so game 1 failed so hard. Fnatic just killed it from minute 1, catching Ezra out of position and giving Febiven's LeBlanc a huge advantage. Aidan and Erik's Vayne and Soraka just didn't match enough. Game two was better. Joe was able to catch Gamsu with his GP barrels and Ezra was quite happy with his 2v1 kill on Ziggs. Alfie's Zac was great in camping botlane, and in our luck, when Alfie E'ed over the Baron pit wall, he found it low and Fnatic doing it, stealing it before flashing out and running away. The teamfight after Joe and Erik messed them up completely and we tie with Fnatic. I smile as I walk on stage and hug the guys. "We bring our stuff home and then we leave." I say and they look at me. "What?" Ezra asks and I smile. "Fnatic invited us to party at Astro, I thought we would need it." I say and Fabian walks behind me. "So you are coming?" He asks with his overly Dutch accent and I nod. "Yeah I am, we all are." I say and he nods. "I'll tell Martin." He says and I nod.

Once home, everyone quickly changed and soon we went clubbing. Freyja and Sabine are wearing short dresses where I am wearing a short black skater skirt and a one shoulder cropped top with ombre red to orange to yellow. We walk in and are greeted by beer. "First drink on G2." Martin screams over the music and I nod with a smile. The guys scatter and Freyja walks with Sabine to the table of Origin and G2. I smile as I look around. Martin puts his arm around me. "You look like you need something a little stronger than beer." He says and I nod. "I guess it just hurts that Alfie preformed that much better than I did." I say and Martin looks around me. "He didn't he is much more dependent on the early lead than you are." He says and I shrug. "It doesn't matter either way, I am returning to the staff." I say and he looks at me. "Come let's get you some Vodka." He says and I smile. "I like the way you think." I say and walk with him. Only upon seeing Eefje in a corner talking with Mitch, I get so jealous. "I might need more than one shot." I scream as Martin hands me a glass and he laughs, ordering an extra round in advance.

About an hour of 2 later, I am sitting on Martin's lap, giggling as he has to take a shot. We are playing Never Have I Ever and I have been taking shots almost every round. Martin smiles and puts his arm around my waist. "Never have I ever kissed a girl's boob." He says and I grab my glass and take a big gulp. He looks at me. "College party, we were drunk." I explain giggling and he smiles. "I think this one had enough to drink." He says as he sees my glass empty again. We get up and walk towards the exit. "Wanna sleep at our Gaming house?" He suddenly asks and we walk to the wardrobe. After that it is all a big blur.

But I wake up in the morning, in an unfamiliar bed, unfamiliar room, a sore lower part and most of all one memory.

 _Me moaning Eefje's freaking name_


	10. Chapter 8

Lizzie

I sit up as I feel my throbbing head, looking around the room. My clothes and Martin's are spread throughout his room, he still sleeps peacefully, and the little personal stuff he has. I grab my bra and panties as I feel the matrass move. I turn to him and he looks at me. "How are ya feeling?" he asks. I shrug. "Hangover. I will take an advil and then will head back to the gaming house." I say and Martin looks at me. "Look, about last night." He starts and I look at him. "You moaned Eefje." He says and I blush. "No need to blush, being gay is totally fine. In fact, Enrique and Lauri were perfectly fine acting gay for each other." He says and I giggle. "You maybe have an advil?" I ask and Martin goes through his drawer, handing me one. "Luis made me have them here when I was the captain and shotcaller. I rarely slept because of headaches, so he wanted to make sure I was fine." He explains and I nod as I take the bottle he hands me and swallow the pill. Martin smiles as he hands me my croptop and skirt. "Wanna talk about it?" He asks and I look at him. "What?" I ask and he looks at me with a weird look. "You didn't hear me moan someone else's name too?" he asks and I shrug. "I was drunk." I say and he smiles. "Yeah I moaned someone's name." He says and I smile. "Do I know her?" I ask and he nods. "Yeah, she is in your team." He says and I think about it. "Freyja?" I ask and he nods with a small blush. I laugh as he turns super red. "Don't tell her." He begs and I nod laughing. "Well, as king as you keep this kind of silent." I ask and he nods. "Was it… I mean it was your first time, right?" He asks me and I nod. "Yeah it was. I am just happy you were the one to do it and not someone who is less handsome." I joke and he laughs. "So tell me, when did you fell in love with our sweet EU hostess." He asks and I laugh. "Shortly after winning the Challenger series and promoting into the LCS. She wasn't hosting that game, but would host the Millenium versus Roccat, so she was in the studio. And when I saw her, I just fell in love." I say and he smiles. "That's actually kinda sweet." He says and I smile. We sit on his bed and I suddenly start looking for my phone. "Where is my bag?" I ask and he hands me my handbag. I get out my phone and unlock it. "I have to call Oliver I am safe." I say and Martin nods. I click call and it doesn't even rings once. "Where are you?" I am greeted by Oliver's worried voice. "Don't worry Oliver, I'm with Martin at the Fnatic Gaming house." I say and I hear him breathe in relieve. "Well we have a teammeeting around 3pm today, you better be there." He says and I hum. "Sure Oliver, I will make sure I am there." I say and he closes off the call. "I have to leave in an hour and a half." I explain to Martin and he nods. We walk out of his bedroom and into the huge living room. "Good morning." We are greeted by a tired looking Bora and a Fabian with two girls draped around him. "Good morning." I murmur and follow Martin to the kitchen. I watch him make two sandwiched and take mine happily and munch on it peacefully. Luis walks in as I just take a huge bite. "Good afternoon." He says with his eyebrows in a questioning position. I shrug and wave at him while chewing my sandwich. "I will bring her home Luis, after that I will return." Martin tells Luis who nods and leaves with a cup of tea. "Can I make you this tea?" Martin asks as he hands me a box with little grains. "What are these?" I ask and Martin smiles. "They are grains to make iced tea or normal tea. We usually use it to get the hangover out or to feel better." He explains and I nod. "Yes please." I say and he smiles, making me a cup. We head to the living room where Luis is scolding Fabian. "I told you, don't become a ladies men. You are working a job, not having a holiday." Luis scolds Fabian but Fabian rises. "You can't tell me what to do." He hisses and Luis looks him in the eye with a cold expression. "I am your coach and I can positively encourage you to step down." He says as Fabian smirks. "You can't." He says and Martin and I look at each other. "Because you are fired by the HQ. You leave after week 9. And then you will never, ever return here." Fabian hisses and I look at Martin. "We leave?" I ask and Martin nods, running to grab my back and we leave quickly. We walk to the nearest Taxi depot and get in the taxi.

We are in the cab to my gaming house when Martin receives a call from Dayuun. "Yeah… he said what?" Martin suddenly says and I turn to him. "Yeah I will try to get beck before dinner." As he closes the call. "Fabian just told Luis he ain't eating the food Luis' girlfriend cooks." He tells me and I look at him. "What?" I say in shock. Martin shrugs as the Taxi stops in front of my gaming house. I pay the driver and get out with my stuff, as the door opens. Sabine and Freyja hug me while the others come out. "You had us scared." Oliver says and I shrug. "Sorry I was a little drunk and Martin took care of me." I say and Freyja turns to Martin and gives him a hug. "Thank you." She says blushing and I smile. Alfie walks to me and looks at me with an apologizing look. "The guys told me what happened. And I really don't wanna be a replacement." He says and I shrug. "The fact is and it keeps like that, they were right." I say and Joe interrupts me. "No I was not. I was angry that we didn't have a coach and I took it out on you by letting you play a champion you found hard to play. And then I criticised your Eve while you tried to play strongly." He says and I look at him. "What are you trying?" I ask and Aidan steps forward. "We want you and Alfie in the play-off roster, since you already signed Alfie for the regular split. We want you to play a game at least per team in the play-offs." Aidan tells me and I look at the guys. "What do you all want?" I ask and they smile. "You in the start roster would be nice." Erik jokes and I smile. "Well I guess it is settled." I say and turn to Martin. "Also lemme know about Luis, I wanna keep eyes on him." I say and he nods, before giving me a hug and leaving. "What avout Luis?" Oliver asks and I shrug. "Can't tell yet, but if what I heard is true, you are united with your coach soon." I say and they look at me. "what?" Sabine asks and I shrug. "Luis is having trouble there and Fabian was ranting about him leaving. I thought that it would be great since he is a master drafter. I would keep Sabine as headcoach and Deilor as drafter and tactician." I explain and I see them all smile. "Plus, his way of wanting to lead a team agrees with ours. Training and living healthy." Ezra adds and I smile. "Precisely my thinking." I say and they hug me. "Great idea." Oliver says as we move inside.

Eefje

I am watching some LCK games as suddenly my phone goes off. "Martin?" I ask worried when I pick up. "Don't worry Eefje, But Trevor told me about you and Lizzie." He says and I sit up. "Yeah what about us?" I ask and he sighs. "We might've had a one night stand." He says and I sit up. "Yeah so?" I ask with a feeling of jealousy in my stomach. "Well it wasn't my name she moaned on her orgasm." He states bluntly and I remain silent. "Eefje, she moaned yours." He says and I gasp. "Thanks, but I have to go." I say and close the call as Trevor walks in. He was watching the games with me. He sits down next to me with a bowl of popcorn and I grab a hand full and stuff it in my mouth. "Apparently Lizzie and Martin had a one night stand last night, but she didn't moan his name." I say and Trevor looks at me. "Let me guess, Martin called you and told you it?" He asks and I nod. "He told me she moaned my name." I say softly and he looks at me. "Now work on getting that ass of yours next to hers. I tell you she loves you so much." He tells me and I look at him. "What if she doesn't?" I ask and he smiles. "She does. Believe me, I was there in the club too yesterday. All she did was glare at you, drink and sit near Martin. She was obviously trying to get the image of you being straight out of her mind and try to focus on something different." Trevor says and I smile. "Thanks Trevor." I say and he shrugs. "Anytime Eefje." He says as he pulls me in a hug. "One day she'll be confident enough to tell you what she feels, and it will make you so happy." He whispers in my ear and I smile at the thought of that. "How was that with Becca and you?" I ask and he smiles. "Oh it was me being so insecure. In the end she ended up asking me, and that made me propose to her. I wasn't scared anymore, because I knew she loved me very much." He says and I smile. "I remember you two at the office, making out in corners when you thought no one was looking." I recall and he laughs. "Yeah we were each other's firsts." He says and I smile. "I am really happy for you and Becca." I tell him and he smiles. "Thanks." He says and he opens twitter, before gasping. "What's up?" I ask and he looks at me. "Open Lizzie's twitter." He says and I shrug, doing as he says. I click on the link in her latest tweet. "FeedMe sub during play-offs, agreed to stay a player for the season." I read aloud and Trevor nods, quickly scanning the text with his eyes. "They say it is to test how they work with a perma sub on the bench, also explaining how Lizzie expressed a passion for the other roles too, in particular top and ADC." He says and I look at him. "So what will they do?" I ask and he turns to me. "Most likely she'll play and at the end of the season leave the roster to retake her CEO position." He says and I shrug. "I think they are trying to convince her that it is better if she stays in the roster, because she carries." He says, when a new voice joins in. "Or it is because she only has one reason to stay in the LCS." Mitch joins in, hanging his jacket over my chair. "Because her one true love is in the LCS." He drops the bomb, showing me one tweet what makes me gasp.

 _FeedMeDMF: . xShipxSailedxFangirl yeah I have a crush on one of the LCS people, who is a secret._


	11. Chapter 9

Lizzie

The weeks flew by and soon it was week 9. The week that would let us know what to expect in the play-offs. I was super nervous, but not only because Play-offs almost begin, but also for another fact. Martin leaked to me that Deilor is fired and is doubting between leaving Berlin and go home or to find another team.

I was sitting behind my pc, livestreaming some art that I was drawing and talking to viewers when suddenly Oliver walked over to me, waving to the stream. "We got a meeting." He says and I nod. I close off the stream and follow Oliver to the living room where they all sat on the couch, all but Sabine. Oliver stands next to her and I join them. "What's up?" I ask and Oliver hands me a letter. "Why is Alfie suspended for this week? They don't have a reason." I say and Sabine looks at me. "They do. He is a sub and he has been on our main roster for 5 games already and the games for this week too, which makes he could be an illegal starter." She explains and I sigh, sitting down on the chair next to the couch. "I have to play, don't I?" I ask and they nod. I look at them. "This week I will." I mutter softly and look at them. "Late scrim guys." I say, walking to my pc. Everyone else joins while I try to find some team to scrim against. "Guys, G2 wants to do a best of 5." I say and they nod. "Got it." Ezra says as I make the game and invite G2. Sabine gets up while I invite Freyja to spectate. Oliver sits down next to me on his PC to do some work. "Liz, can we see you on either Gragas or Hecarim?" She asks and I nod as I lock in Nautilus. "As long as there is a Karma in the comp, I am okay." I say and Ezra nods. Joe picks Maokai and Erik and Aidan select Nautilus and Fortune. On the G2 side they have a Gragas top, Kha'zix jungle, Lissandra mid and bot Lucian and Thresh. As we enter the game, I suddenly get super nervous and start shaking a little. Oliver turns to me as PerkZ is still loading in. "What's up?" He asks and I turn to him. "I am just a little scared. Last time I played has been a long time ago, and then I sucked so hard." I say and he looks at me with comforting eyes. "You'll do just fine. Try to get your pick next game." He advises and I nod as I look at the screen and get my Machete, potions and a ward.

The game goes very well. Considering it is my first game in 3 weeks, I am still pretty good and even manage to pick up a triple kill. We win only because we baited them at Baron. We suddenly disappeared into the jungle on the Baron side and they followed, face checking a bush and then we came from behind and upfront. Aidan pulls off a beautiful 5 man ulti to pick up a penta before we run to do Baron. With the deathtimers over a minute, we can get both the nexus turrets down before we have to retreat. I place a very sneaky ward to where Joe can TP, and when G2 wants to bait us into a 4v5, Joe TP's to the nexus to do it. While we fight and stop them from backing, he keeps doing so much damage that when PerkZ does manage to back, it is already too late. The nexus falls and we cheer.

The games after are a little less god. We managed to get a 3-2 loss out of it, and in the 4th game, which we won, I played my absolute favourite champion ever, Quinn and Valor. While I cleared my red buff, I decided to gank mid. I ran down and came in. I Q'ed E'ed Perkz and soon he dropped, giving Ezra first blood and me the assist. Ezra was so happy and everytime I got to his lane, he would use his ult, Frozen Tomb, on Perkz to snare him and I would end it. At this point I was fed on only ganking, but Bot was struggling really bad. I made Ezra walk a longer route to bot so they would think he was coming top. I flew to bot from base with my homeguards, and soon it was a 4v2 on bot, clearing them out. I smiled as not much later we won the game.

We were sitting in front of the Huge TV watching the replays when we finally get to game 4. Oliver and Sabine look at each other. "This was the game you played best." Freyja starts and I look at her. "Quinn might have chosen a weak champion for jungle, but her early ganks made her so strong. A lot of times you want to get fed of some farm as a weak jungler, but this system of super early ganks is ridiculous. It scares the people out of lane. As you can see here, you made not only Mithy and Trick buy a sightstone, but also Expect has one, while they also have red trinkets. Your sneak attacks were great and it forced them back so much." Freyja says and I yawn. "Just a question, what is the chance this will work against Origin?" Sabine asks and Freyja shrugs. "Pretty high chance. They expect her to pick one of her signature champs probably, so like a Shyvana or Xin, maybe Eve, but certainly not Quinn." Freyja explains and I see Sabine looking at me. "I am all in if you are." She says and I turn to the guys, who are all looking at me in hope. "Sure, get something to work around Quinn, and I will play Quinn." I say and they cheer all. I smile as we go on.

The next morning I am up like really early. It is 5am and I would go sporting today, but I feel like going for a run. I dress and leave a note that I went for a run on the kitchen counter. I am running through the still sleeping Berlin when I pass a park. I walk in and see Eefje sitting on a bench. I walk up to her and sit down next to her. "Hey." I say and she looks up. "Hey, what are you doing up already?" She asks and I smile. "I could ask you the same. But I went for a run, couldn't sleep anymore." I say and she looks at me. "Insomnia?" She asks and I shake my head. "I always get up early." I say and she nods. "I couldn't sleep either." She says and I look at her. "Are you okay?" I ask and she shakes her head. I pull her in a tight hug, my heart skipping a little as she wraps her arms around me too. "I couldn't sleep and then I realised I had so much to do and now I am super stressed and I just wanna go home and relax." She says and I look at her. "When can you go home?" I ask and she looks at me. "I mean Bruges when I say home. I mean you should be able to during the Challenger promotion tournament." I say and she looks at me. "Why are you so nice?" She asks and I shrug. "You are always kind to me and I really think you need a little break." I say and she lays her head on my shoulder. "I don't wanna go back to my apartment and be lonely." She says and I smile. "Then why don't you come to us. We have enough food to share and you would be with like 8 other people." I say and she looks at me. "You wouldn't mind?" She asks and I shake my head. "No we wouldn't. And if you want to you could just walk the street and get to the LCS in seconds." I say and she looks at me. "Thank you." She says as she gets up. I get up too and she looks at me. "What way?" She asks and I show her. "So are the rumours true that Riot banned Alfie because they thought he was starting roster?" She asks and I shake my head. "Just suspended for the two gaming days, so I have to play." I say and she looks at me. "Why did you quit?" She asks and I look at her. "Troubles in the team, they preferred me to take over my old staff position, to beg me later to return for the team. They haven't been doing great." I say and she looks at me. "If you win against Roccat and Origin, you can still come in 3rd." She says and I look at her. "I know but the chance is barely there." I say and she looks at me. "I never saw you as the one to doubt things." She says and I look at her. "No one told you about the mistakes I made in the last 3 weeks?" I ask her and she looks at me. "Come on they can't be that bad." She encourages me and I look at her. "I had a one night stand with Rekkles, I started eating unhealthy, I became reckless. Eefje I don't know what to do anymore. Apparently I can either be only good or just full bad." I say and she looks at me. "I never saw you as the one for one night stands." She says and I look at her. "Because I am not. It was my first bedpartner too." I say and she now stops me. "Was this right after they kicked you out?" She asks and I nod. "They don't know about the one night stand though. Freyja and Martin are trying things out a little, so I don't want to nuke his chances." I say and Eefje smiles. "What?" I ask, and she giggles. "You just remind me so much of a friend I have, always doubting whenever she makes the smallest mistake and then trying to make others happy." She says as we walk into the street. I smile as I grab the keys and open the front door and let her in. Oliver come into the hallway. "Hey Liz, Eefje." He says and I smile. "Hey Oliver, sorry I brought Eefje home, she wanted some company." I explain and he nods. "Come in Eefje, you are always welcome here." He says as he opens the door. I quickly make up my bed/the couch and make sure Eefje can sit. "You don't have a room?" She asks and I smile. "It is the Sub's room now. Right after Krakow they will build a new extra building for the staff to sleep in." I explain and she nods while looking around. "It is big here." She notes and I nod. Alfie waves at Eefje while he walks sleepily to the kitchen to grab some food. Not much later everyone is downstairs and talking about tonight. "Man I really want to play some solo queue." Ezra suddenly says and he leaves with Alfie. I turn to Eefje. "Wanna do some soloqueue? I can ask Oliver if you can use his PC." I ask and she nods. Oliver already heard it and nods. I log in and set up League for her while logging in to my level 30 unranked smurf. She looks at me. "You wanna play placements with me?" she asks and I nod, making a game and inviting her. "Yeah I would love to Eefje." I say and queue up when Erik passes by, winking at me. "You got it." He whispers in my ear and I blush.

Do I really, but then really, love Eefje?


	12. Chapter 10

**(everything cursive is said in Dutch)**

Lizzie

As we sat there, gaming, playing soloqueue and being awesome, something kept feeling off to me. Around 1pm Eefje had to leave and I got these strange looks by Oliver and Erik. I logged into my main account and started to scroll through my champs when suddenly Oliver handed me his phone. "Deilor." He mouths and I nod as I take the phone. "With Lizzie." I pick up and I hear his Spanish accent as he says: "Hello Lizzie." I smile and close my window. "Anything I can do for you?" I ask and it becomes silent. "Actually there is. Martin told me that you were looking for a second coach for tactical stuff." Louis says and I smile. "Yeah we are. We are looking for someone more tactical and who is able to see mistakes we make in game easily." I explain and Louis hums. "I would be interested." He says and I smile. "Do you have time next week?" I ask and he is silent for a few seconds. "I can come Monday?" he tells me and I look in our agenda. "Be here around 3pm, then we will be done with our scrims against Vitaly." I tell him. "Sure I will be there." He says as I write it down in the agenda. "Great, I'll see you Monday." I tell him and he bids farewell before closing off the call. "Deilor just applied for the role we created for him." I say and they all cheer. "Amazing!" Sabine cries out happily, as I look on the clock. "We leave in 10." I say and run to the bathroom to grab my make-up bag. I grab my backpack and stuff my bottle of water and mousepad in it. Sabine appears behind me. "Calm down Lizzie, you'll do just fine. We'll just let you play your Quinn and everything will be fine." She tells me and I bite my lip. "I dunno Sabine, I will only play this week, and then a game per play-offs spot." I say and she looks at me. "And with you carrying us we'll go to Krakow." She tells me and I look at her. She pulls me in a tight hug and I relax. "Thanks I needed that." I say as she lets me go. The happy smile shows. "And soon we'll have a huge team to help you." She says and I nod.

Once we enter and put our stuff in our teamroom, we all split up. Sabine runs off towards Origin, Freyja towards Fnatic and the boys to the cafeteria. I wander through the hallways, sometimes stopping to watch a game when I walk past xPeke and Cyanide. I smile and give them a small wave as xPeke signals to come closer. "This Lauri, is your successor for best jungler in EU, only to be downgraded by her own team." xPeke introduces me and I blush. "Well they wanted me back, but the truth had been spoken so I decided to leave." I say and offer Lauri my hand. "Lizzie Janssen" I introduce myself and Lauri shakes my hand. "Lauri Happonen." He introduces before turning to xPeke. "Enrique, you didn't tell me you knew her personally." Lauri says and I smile. "Lauri you spend long enough in the LCS scene to know that everyone knows everyone." xPeke answers and I smile. "We are heading out to the cafeteria to eat something, wanna come?" Peke asks and I look at them. "I mean if you wouldn't mind." I say hesitating a little. Lauri nods and drags me towards the cafeteria. I follow them and smile as we sit down with pasta in a silent corner. I look around and see everyone drinking sodas and eating junkfood and I turn to the guys. "If you want to eat something less healthy, don't be bothered by me." I tell them and they laugh. "No we wanted to. You are legit the only one eating healthy here and we wanna join you. Believe me Lizzie, on the rift we are opponents, but outside we are friends. And I think it is great that you don't eat that much junkfood and sodas, but healthy." He says as he sips on his tea. I smile and start eating, constantly looking at the guys who are sitting with Fnatic. "What's up?" Lauri suddenly asks and I sigh. "Just some things that happened after I got kicked out of the team that hit hard." I say and they look at me. "One night stand." I explain and they nods. "And?" Peke asks and I shrug. "I dunno. I am just scared Rekkles starts talking." I say and Peke looks at me "He isn't the one for, to do one night stands." He and Lauri say softly at the same time. "Neither am I. In fact it was my first time ever, but still something feels off about how they talk there." I say and they suddenly look at each other. "It's nothing." Lauri tells me and I nod, looking at the guys. Suddenly I look at the time and quickly finish my pasta. "I will see you on the Rift Enrique. I am going to the make-up now." I say, giving them a quick hug before sprinting off to make-up. I decide to go heavy and grab my favourite lipstick, Instigator, and put it on before applying my smokey eye. After that I walk to the team room and see half of the team sitting. As I enter it falls silent and I take a seat reluctantly. Sabine goes through last minute strats and my mind wanders off. As I look at the calendar, I suddenly realise it is July 30th, and that tomorrow is my birthday. Usually my friends wouldn't shut up about it, but now they have been so silent about it, and I had so much stress, that I forgot it.

Not much after our small gathering, we are being checked and handed our keyboard and mouse. I walk on stage and wave at the crowd as we settle in. I sit silently as my stuff is set up the quickest and look at the little heart that I drew on my mousepad. I smile as the fans are cheering my name and I as I grab the headset, I hear something that makes me smile inside. "And now we have FeedMe back on jungle, and I really think that her shotcalling is something DMF missed last game, and I think it is very good for not only her or us, but everyone that she is back on the rift." Pulse says as I put on my headset. I blush. Ezra is the only one on our teamspeak as I enter. _"Shall we sing Tele-romeo for them?"_ Ezra asks as I enter and I look at him. "YES" I scream and we wait until they connect. Once they are all three connected, Ezra and I start singing a song, that was massive in my youth. _"Who is on the line, hello hello, where are you and why do I long for you, hello hello, my teleromeo"_ Ezra starts and suddenly I decide to go ham and sing the bridge. "Before you gave me your number, it was all over. Thunder disconnected the call. I was alone, full of questions and pain." I followed up and Ezra smiled. _"If I need to, I will search and call every number out of that book. One day it is you, and I hear how you say. Who is on the line, hello hello? where are you and why do I long for you, hello hello…"_ before Erik shuts us off. "STOOPID DUTCHMAN SHUT UP!" He screams over the mic and I and Ezra start laughing so hard. It is about that moment we enter champ select and everyone focusses. I am tense, nervous, but the calming voices and words of encouragement, are the only reason I don't run and leave them be.

The games went ridiculously great. I got Quinn first game and immediately settled for a camp on bot. xPeke and Hybrid were barely a match for whenever I flew into lane. Not much later, Aidan, who was playing Vayne, was so fed that Erik's Lulu could roam and help Ezra's even lane with Power of Evil. Joe was just deleting Soaz and Amazing never made it in time to defend any of the laners. Game 1 ended in less than 22 minutes and I smiled as we walked backstage. Game 2, was harder. After they focussed their bans on me, instalocked my Eve for Amazing, I was left with little choice. We decided, since we were red side this game, to let my jungle pick open. Suddenly I saw one mistake in their teamcomp. "Guys, they have no tank/bruiser." I say, turning to Sabine. She looks at me. "Who do you suggest?" She asks me and I bite my lip. "Let's pick a soloqueue strategy here, and let me make Sky Williams proud." I say and she looks at me. "With Erik on Tahm, I think Morgana is responsible enough to try." She says and I nod. Erik locks Morgana in and immediately the crowd goes buzzing. I trade with Erik and select my favourite skin, Victorious, and wait until we load in. It is a clownfiesta from both sides. Where Joe was owning Soaz early game, he was losing lane, Mid was winning and bot kept even. We all knew we needed to win a teamfight.

But then something happened, what we all thought would mean doom. Origin 4v5'd us, thinking I was saving bot. I sadly for them, came from behind and started chunking down their carries. Aidan threw his Jinx rocket out to take down their tanks quicker and we strangely enough won that teamfight. We backed, did Baron, had another good teamfight and at 38 minutes we closed it out. I smiled as we took down the nexus, rose from my chair, shook Origin's hands, when the boys lift me in the air. "That was brilliant." Erik screamed as the casters were laughing at the scene with the fans. We quickly looked at the stats before we headed backstage. But right before I would leave stage, a rioter came up to me. "Quickshot wants to interview you." He says and I nod, following the guy to Quickshot. I gave Trevor a quick hug while he smiled. "Well played." He says and I nod. "Thanks." I say as I see the camera walking to us.

That night I drop on my bed, dead to my feet but at the same time satisfied. I stare at the ceiling until I fall asleep.

The next morning I wake up, all alone. From the noises I hear and the light outside, I can tell that really everyone forgot my birthday. I open my phone and see some fans wishing me a happy birthday. I dress up in my favourite hoodie and yoga pants and walk outside. Everyone is gaming, Ezra is streaming, Oliver isn't even here, and I look around. "I am going out." I say while I grab my wallet and headset and plug it into my phone. I walk outside and start running around the block. I bite my lip as I realise what it means that they forgot my birthday, I don't matter to them anymore.

The complete day I am silent, I mind my own stuff, blasting Pity Party through the house in the little hope it makes them remember. After we leave for the LCS for the last game of the split, I gave up. I went backstage, at a piece of the Dutch farmers cake they made and held my own little party. Everyone seemed to avoid me today, and for the first time today I didn't mind. I went in the make-up room back to my Goth days and went heavy on the eyebrows, eyes, contour and lips. I put on my tight gameshirt, my skater skirt finished my look. I put on heels and suddenly there was the old me. I look at myself with a happy smile as I see how the black lipstick that complements my dark hair. I walk to the team room and drop down. My 1,80 appearance makes me already huge, but with my 9cm heels, I am suddenly the longest in the room. People are scared shitless when I walk past them, and even on stage, the gossiping is real. I sit behind my pc and smile inwardly. To myself I think: 'This is for forgetting my birthday.' As I load in.

We win against Roccat, no big surprise there, and I walk to the back as Ezra and Aidan are selected for the interview. I grab my stuff and walk up to Oliver. "I will be back soon, I am going clubbing." I say and turn, but Oliver stops me. "There is a Riot party, we are obliged to come." He says and I look at him. "Okay, I guess." I say and he nods as he makes room for me. I sit down on the chair and look out of the window. "What's bothering you?" He asks and I turn to him. "Just betrayal." I say and I see him tense up. I sit down near the window and stare outside. After a couple of hours, a rioter comes to get us. We are brought to the shuttle and I step inside. We are brought to a bar and I follow in. As they open the doors, I gasp for a breath. Everywhere, but then I mean EVERYWHERE, is party decoration, and in the middle of it all, a sheet is put up with "Happy Birthday Lizzie!" I gasp and start crying out of joy!


	13. Chapter 11

Lizzie

I looked around and saw everyone standing there and I smiled as I ran to hug the guys from my team in the middle of them all. "You ignored my birthday with a reason." I scream and they laugh as they hug me. I look around and see everyone standing and I giggle. I turn to Oliver, who is now behind me and give him a tight hug. "You all tricked me." I scream and they all laugh. Suddenly Sabine and Freyja bring in a huge box and put it on the ground. "This is the gift from all of us." Freyja says and I kneel, opening the box. I let out a little scream of happiness and pick up the two hairy cats. "Siberian cats." Ezra tells me and I smile as I pet them. One is Black and grey, the other white and grey. I smile as I pet the little ones and look up to everyone, smiling at me. I smile and hand one to Ezra and the other one to Joe. I look up and see everyone walking to me with gifts. The music goes on as I open all the gifts and thank everyone. I get a lot of stuff I really like, and the row gets shorter and shorter, when suddenly the last one is in front of me. Eefje. I look at her and smile. "Hey." She silently says and I smile. "Hey." I say and she hands me a little package. I open it and it contains my favourite MAC lipstick, Instigator. I look at her happily. "Ezra told me you were almost out of stock and that you were too busy to get a new one, so I thought I would get it for you." She says and I smile and hug her. After that I walk to the huge group who are playing with the cats. I smile as they let me through and I smile as the black one walks immediately to me, purring softly. Ezra looks at me. "Both are girls. Sabine convinced us it was the best." He tells me and I smile. The cat lays on my lap and I pet her with a huge smile. "I call her Molly." I say and then look to the white one. "And that one is Marmalade." I say and Ezra smiles as Marmalade plays with Enrique and Eefje. I laugh as Marmalade climbs or Enrique's head and looks like a little queen as she washed herself.

Hours later we take the shuttle back to the gaming house, the cats on my lap. Molly is already super attached to me and Marmalade is everyone's little friend. At this moment Marmalade sleeps on Aidan's legs. I smile as the shuttle stops and I lift Molly and bring her inside before helping the guys to unload my gifts. I smile as Ezra hands me all the cat attributes I got from everyone and lift them inside. I bring it all to my room and smile as I see that Molly immediately climbs on my bed and falls asleep again with Marmalade next to her. As soon as we are done, I go to my room and pet them. They purr in their sleep and I smile. I start putting up the cat play pole as Ezra walks in with a little package. "I forgot to give you this." He says and I open it. It contains food and water containers and I smile. "Thanks." I say as I hug him.

The weekend goes by quickly. Saturday we a had a small party with friends, Sunday we spend streaming and trolling on League, and then soon, Monday arrived. We were scrimming against Vitality and thinking about new strategies for the play offs, when suddenly Oliver walked in with Luis. I nod and keep playing. It was the last game, since we were 2-0 and wining this one too. I ulted on Vitality and not much later we ended the game. I rose as I closed League and went over to Luis. I gave him a quick hug before turning to Oliver. "My room?" I ask and he nods. We walk to the my room and pet Molly, who is sleeping on my bed, really quickly. He smiles. "Oliver showed me around already. So can we get to the basics now?" He asks and I nod. "It is easy Luis. People are specific, and so are we. And we need a specific person who is supporting the way of life we want to live." I start and he looks at me. "We sport at least twice a week here, eat mostly healthy, only on Saturdays we don't, then it is snack day. We need someone to analyse our games, but also to support our players in their healthy lifestyle." I explain and he nods. "I have a question, regarding my…" He starts but Oliver shuts him of. "She is welcome here too. In fact, we would love to have her here. And if she wants to cook, she is welcome in the kitchen anytime. We continued the Fnatic thing, I cook at lunch, and at night the one that is the least tired cooks then." Oliver explains and he nods. "I would like the job very much." He says and I smile. "And we would like you very much Luis." I say and he smiles. "When do you have to leave the Fnatic game house?" I ask and he sighs. "Tomorrow. It isn't much stuff I have, nor does she." He says and I look at Oliver. "Go pack them. We'll pick you up tonight. I will move in with Ezra, and Alfie can move in with Aidan." I say and Oliver looks at me. "And Oliver here?" He asks and I nod. "We still have the moving boxes. I will pack these and store them beneath the stairs." I say and Oliver nods. Luis looks at me. "Wait, you are gonna stay there forever?" He asks and I shake my head. "Hopefully, if we leave for Krakow, Ezra's dad is going to supervise a staff building. It will be one with a basement, so it is pretty huge and we all have our own bedrooms and stuff. Then we can move in our subs to this house. I will move to the staff house too." I say and he nods. "Well, I will pack then, how late will you pick me up?" He asks and I look at Oliver. "We eat at 7.30pm." He says and I nod. "We'll be there at 6.30pm." I say and he nods. "Thank you." He says, giving me a hug and then Oliver. "I guess we are a team again." He says, petting Molly. I smile as they walk out together. I lift Molly and walk to the scrimroom. "Well guys, we have a new coach." I announce and they cheer. Marmalade is sleeping in Ezra's lap and I smile as I see how lazy they are.

That night we are in the van to get Luis and his girlfriend. I sit in the bus with Oliver, smiling as we park in front of the gaming house. I walk to the door and ring. The buzz goes off so I walk in, up the stairs. I see an open door and walk in carefully. There is Luis and his gf saying their goodbyes to the guys. Martin walks up to me. "Weird to be back?" He asks and I shake my head. "At least this time you remember it." He jokes and I stick out my tongue. "Rude." He fakes being insulted. I smile and look at Luis coming at us, hugging Martin. "I will miss you." He says and Martin gives him a hug. "I will miss my breakfast buddy too." Martin jokes and Luis smiles. His gf walks up to Martin and gives him a hug too. "Goodbye." She says softly. We go downstairs and load in their stuff. I walk back to get the last suitcase, when Quaye stops me. "Take good care of them for me." He says and I nod. "I will, I promise." I say and he hugs me. "Have fun with them. Luis is really strong, it's a pity Fabian and him clashed so often." He says and I smile. "Yeah we've been admiring his way of seeing strategies and making us wonder what would be the better alternative for ages now. We are so happy he said yes." I explain and he smiles. "He'll be better off with you." He says and I smile. "Thanks Finlay." I say as I walk to the van. I load in the suitcase and get in the van, on the passenger seat. Luis and his gf are in the backseat, waving at the guys in front of their apartment complex. As we drive away, we wave at them. About 30 minutes later, we park in front of our house. Everyone runs out to help with the luggage and the delicious smell of baked potatoes and steak hit my nostrils. I look at a proud looking Freyja. "I didn't set the house on fire with baking the steak." She smiles happily and I laugh, giving her a hug. Luis looks around as we bring his luggage to my old room and his girlfriend helps us set the table. I smile as everyone gets along. "We must get to worlds with a team like this." I say to Oliver and he nods.

Not much later I am proved right. In the play-offs, we win against Fnatic, surprisingly. Fnatic made so many mistakes, and we were always there to profit from them. It was a 3-1, only dropping one game because I started with the wrong item. Luis and Sabine were ecstatic. "We might not win against Splyce, but we'll go win against the unicorns. Not a chance that they beat G2." Sabine told us happily after we won against Fnatic. We smiled as we cheered. Not only were we in the race for worlds, but also to finish high. Luis proved himself, every time we needed him to. His training schedule was almost precisely Sabine's and soon he bloomed with all kinds of strategies. Our sudden boost of confidence and aggressiveness didn't go unnoticed. We managed to go 2-3 against Splyce, placing us in the match for 3rd place with the Unicorns of Love. We were all already in shock. We never thought we would be able to make it to the play-offs, hell we thought we would be relegated by now. But here we are, heading out to Krakow soon.

To celebrate our small victories, we went out for dinner. Ezra and I were chilling out on the complete leftside of the table, while Sabine and Freyja drink some alcoholic drink. Erik, Aidan, Joe and Luis were armwrestling. Ezra suddenly looked up as a huge cake came our way. I look at him. "This must've been ordered by one of the guys." I say but Luis smiles as it's put down and the little firework-thingy is lit. "I ordered this because you've been so great and welcoming to me and my love. You not only had to adapt with a new crewmember right before play-offs, but also we had to finetune on so many levels. Suddenly I was in a totally new household, but saw you all tried so hard. When I was going through the cabinets to search for some granola, I saw you had no sweets or whatsoever. When I talked to Oliver, I heard that you kicked out all the sweets so I had less problems to adapt. So this is my little give back to you." He says and I look at the huge cake. He hands me the knife. "C'mon, cut it!" Ezra says and I cut myself a huge piece. Everyone laughs as I stuff it in my mouth. I giggle and cut another piece, shoving it into Ezra's open mouth. We all laugh and everyone gets a piece for themselves. I look around and smile happily. This split went better than I could've ever imagined. All but on one platform. That platform is love.

I love Eefje 'Sjokz' Depoortere, the most straight girl in this scene and the most unreachable for me…


	14. Chapter 12

Lizzie

Not much after the special dinner, we were in Krakow. For both me and Ezra it was the first time this far to the east. Erik and Aidan were in Krakow before and Joe never visited Poland, but went to Russia once. While Ezra and I look around in surprise, Erik and Joe navigated us to the hotel. Sabine and Luis were getting along better and better every day and I had trust in them, to create a monster draft for the games for third place. Once checked in, we were picked up by some rioters to visit the Stadium and see where our prep room was. Once there, we immediately went to the area where we would play. I smiled when I saw that they were testing our seats now. Suddenly all the casters were next to us too. "Excited?" Eefje asked me and I nod. "Yeah, I never thought we would actually make it to a stage like this." I say and she smiles. "I believe you can make it to worlds this year. In fact, I am silently rooting for you." She says and I smile. "Thanks, but I am sub these games. Alfie's contract ends next week so we want to let him play some games. If they don't win and we need to go ham for a reverse sweep, they'll switch me in." I say and she laughs. "Yeah I guess." She says and I smile. "And if you win, excited to go to Korea then?" She asks and I nod. "Yeah, I am. I always wanted to try something else than the decent Kimchi we have here in Berlin." I say and she laughs. "Believe me, it is great there." She says and I laugh, feeling warm inside. Suddenly they take Ezra and Aidan from the group. "Feature?" I ask Eefje and she nods. "One game will be mid focus, one will be ADC focus." She explains and I nod.

After Ezra and Aidan return, we walk to the prep room and sit behind the PCs they had set up for us. "So here is where you can train for the next few days. If there are any other questions, we have plenty of people around here who you can ask." The rioters closes off and I start the PC where my mouse and mousepad lays. "Who is in for some streaming?" I ask as I set up my webcam and my laptop to read donations and comments. Ezra immediately joins in with Aidan and Erik. Joe smiles. "Let's do this, teamqueue." He says and I laugh. "Let's all do random and see what we get." Ezra suggests as I invite them to the game. We all select random and I launch the queue. I quickly set up the stream and see the people coming in. I click the AFK-check and we are launched to champ select. "SUPPORT." I scream and laugh. Aidan got ADC so I smile wickedly. "And I am last pick, oh how much fun us this going to be." I joke and he sighs. He picks Jhin, so I start giggling. Once I get to pick, I instalock Jarvan and hear him sigh. "You are support, not a feeding toplaner!" He screams from the other side of the table and I laugh. Once we are loaded in game, I get my Relic shield and healthpots, starting with my E. "Full AP Jarvan so I can make PeacePidgeon proud and swagflag the living shit out of people." I smile and Aidan sighs. But the game goes surprisingly well. I managed to steal A dragon and a baron with my swagflag, and I the carries everytime Aidan ulted. My streamchat kept spamming PogChamp and Kappa. At one moment a donation came in. "$4.20, hey FeedMe, last time Jarvan support worked was when I was high on all the crack in your stream. 3 you rurururururururururururururururu." The text-to-voice said and we all laugh. "Yeah Sneaky got the memers, Febi the flamers, and I the crack addicts." I joke and Erik starts laughing. At one moment Ezra starts gigglin. "Guys, look who is online in our discord?" He says and I laugh. "SNEAKY SENPAI." I scream and swipe his speech icon to our stream one. "Hellooooow" he says as he notices he is in my stream now. "Aaaay LMAO." I say and he laughs. "I just tweeted your stream, so wait for the views to update." He says and I look at my laptop as I wait to respawn "How did it go from 1200 to 6k?" I ask and he smiles. "The power of the crack and the memes." He says and I laugh. "Meme me senpai." I joke and he laughs. "Come to worlds and I will meme you everyday." He says and I laugh. "I will try Senpai." I laugh and Ezra laughs. "Idiots." He says aloud and I laugh, as I get a three man ult off an make sure Aidan gets a double kill. We run for the nexus, finish the game and smile as we see the LP gain. "Plus 21, OH HELL YEAH." Ezra screams next to me and I laugh. I create another game and not much later we load in again.

Back at the hotel, we decide that me and Freyja share a room and we walk there. I sit down on my bed and look outside. "What is it?" Freyja asks and I smile. "It is just that less than 3 months ago, I was nothing, and now, I am suddenly popular. I am cool, awesome, and what more. It's just so strange." I explain and she hugs me. "I know, all the guys are struggling with all the sudden popularity too." She says and I nod. "How is it, being in Krakow after everything that happened in the last month?" She asks and I smile. "It feels godly." I say and she smiles. "Can I ask you something?" She asks and I nod. "Is Alfie actually going to play?" I nod. "He comes in tomorrow, missed his plane from Heathrow. Why do you ask?" I tell her and she nods. "Because the team is terrible without you. They make terrible calls because you aren't shotcalling, and to be honest, Alfie is just too unexperienced to actually be good." She tells me and I smile. "I know Freyja, that you and Luis aren't fans of that choice I made, but believe me, if they are 2-0, I will be subbed back in and make a reverse sweep." I say and she looks at me. "It will be too late, Lizzie, because the Unicorns are really strong right now. We all need you on that chair from the first game on." She says and I shake my head. "I won't do that, Freyja. I will give Alfie his chance, and don't forget, I am usually the huge, annoying surprise." I explain to her and she sighs. "We'll need you, you'll see the day after tomorrow." She tells me and leaves for the bathroom.

Two days later we walk backstage. Alfie arrived yesterday and soon had the feel again, something was missing. Alfie was still a little shaken from his ban from Riot, but promised us to play as good as possible. We didn't expect any less from him. We were backstage, and they were playing a games against bot to warm up a little. I smiled as I saw how their communication got better and better, and I smiled at Sabine, looking quickly at the clock and give her a nod. "We are ready to launch." I say and she nods. The guys closed off the game and quickly we went through all out strategies. Ban on Nidalee, maybe Kha'zix, Alfie on his comfort pick Lee Sin, Ezra on Ziggs, all the other bans and counterpicks. A little too soon we were visited by the Riot boy, who had to pick us up and bring us to the security check. I went though it too, so I could sit with Sabine and we could decide to sub me in. But to be able too, I had to get checked too. While Sabine and the guys walked to the area where they had to get up, I went to the little, empty hallway where two PC screens were set up, one on either side of the corridor, and walked to the guy that guarded the one with "DMF" on the PC. He nodded as I passed him and sat in one of the two chairs in front of the PC. I watched them get on stage and saw the pick and ban phase. It was over too soon. We had an okay teamcomp. Darius top, Zac jungle (they banned our Lee sadly), Ezra had Victor mid (to counter their Azir) and bot was Aidan's favourite lane, Nami and Vayne. That was while they had a Mao'kai top, Elise jungle, Azir was on mid and the botlane was Sivir and Braum. Sabine joined me not much later, her notepad open, making quick notes of the gameplay. The game, went okay, until Alfie had to gank mid. Ezra was doing pretty well and rarely missed more than one wave of CS, while Exileh was trying to hard to poke Ezra out of lane. Alfie's passive, the second life that would grant him, was on cooldown, and he was low HP. Exileh easily played around him and solokilled both Alfie and Ezra. Dissapointment flooded my face. Exileh secured the first turret gold with that move and placed us out of the game we wanted to play with them. That was not the only mistake. Alfie kept diving as a madman, forgetting he was behind on gold, and dying everytime. Even though bot was doing a great job at keeping steady and even, Joe and Ezra struggled a lot more, since Alfie's focus was all on bot. I looked to Sabine with a face of disappointment as the Unicorns closed out the game. "If they lose the next game, you sub me in." I say and she nods.

The second game was even worse. Non of them got a pick they were good on, none of them could secure a laning phase, we even didn't get one turret when the unicorns closed the second game too. I didn't see it happen, I was changing into my jersey and walked to the security again, to get my stuff and give it to the Rioter who had to install it. I walked to them and they all had a look of relieve. "Alfie, go backstage to Oliver and Luis, I take it from here." I say and he nodded. The meeting was too short to discuss everything, but we had the basics. I was going Kha'zix, so we could assasinate them all. While we walked to the stage, I vaguely could hear Quickshot's voice telling the people that I subbed in and that everything was different now. I sat down on my stage, breathing nervously. "Okay, this is the plan. We now are going to play all on botlane, ganks are botlane focussed, every move should be for bot." Sabine tells us and I nod. We get into the banphase, and I sigh as I see their bans. "Kha, Shyvana and Xin?" I say and Sabine suddenly laughs silently. "What?" I ask and she turns to me. "They didn't ban Sejuani." She tells me and I look at her. "You want my Sejuani? I mean she isn't an assassin." I say and she smiles. "That doesn't matter, what matters is the fact that you can ult them, you force them to play flawless, which makes them make mistakes." She tells me and I nod. Soon we got a great team. Renekton, Sejuani, Taliyah, Vayne and Nami against the Unicorns' Mao'kai, Lee, Aurelion Sol, Ashe and Braum. I smiled as we loaded in. "Good luck." I say and prepare myself.

The games, were a massacre, for them. We managed to secure first blood on an invade, we trampled them to dust, and to top that off, we managed to get the first Sejuani pentakill in European proplay. I didn't look up from my screen until I saw we secured the win. I rose and took of my headset, walking off stage to hold a small meeting for the next game. Everyone was going crazy in the audience and I smiled as I saw a devastated look on the Unicorns' faces. We were back in this. Game 4, was less exciting but the last game, the closing game, was intense. We started with picking the ultimate team for us. Joe had hovered Darius, until the last second, and then locked in Heimerdinger. I quickly followed by locking in Kha'zix. They already had Gnar, and quickly locked in Draven and Braum. I nodded to Ezra and Aidan as they locked in Vayne and Lulu. They responded with Karma and Nidalee. Erik turned his attention to Joe. "Want to pull out the little piece of mutant inbred shrooms?" He asked Joe and Joe smiled wickedly. "No, hover Azir, last second locking in Teemo." He explained and we all laughed. "Oh you are rude." Ezra says and I smile. Through the bright lights, I can make out the confused face of Move and giggle. "Lock it now." Joe commands and quickly everyone switches so we all have the right champions.

That game was a party for us. Joe had sacrificed all defensive stats and went full AP, granting him a huge head start in the game, something Vizicsasci never expected to face, and I happily camped top to give Joe an even bigger head start. Ezra managed to solokill Karma a couple of times, and the only one who died was Erik. It was an absolute slaughter and as Ezra channeled his inner xPeke and prepared for a backdoor, I was running through our jungle, picking up all the buffs we had and ran into Veritas, doing my red buff. I jumped him and deleted him, followed by his support Hylissang, and cleared mid and helped Ezra run it down. The death times were long, too long for them to stop us. Exileh was up first, but not even his Karma did enough damage to take us down. We ended and we jumped up, hugging each other and cheering. I was the first one to leave the group, after mere seconds, and made my way over to the Unicorns, and shaking their hands. Move pulled me in for a quick hug and I smiled. "Well played little noob." He says in a teasing tone and I smile. Veritas looks a little tilted, while Hylissang smiles. "We'll try our bests to come with you guys to worlds." He says and gives me a tight hug. I smile and see that my guys followed me.

After the whole post-game shenenigans, I walked with Erik backstage, talking about the game and after a while the conversation ends on me and Eefje. I sigh as he asks me if there is nothing I could do. I stop him, not noticing Eefje and Trevor walking behind us and look at him. "It is Eefje, possibly one of the straightest girls I've ever known, one of the most popular girls in the complete scene, including streamers and youtubers, and who am I? The little strong jungler from a new team in the LCS, with only one secret, and that is that I am lesbian. She doesn't love me Erik." I hiss and look up as I hear a gasp. A second later a hand connects with my cheek and I see Eefje running away from me. I stand in shock as Erik looks to Trevor, who quickly follows Eefje. "You were right." He says as he pulls me in a hug. I start to tear up a little. "I messed it up, now she won't ever talk to me again." I cry in his arms as he keeps saying comforting things.

What I didn't know, was the aftermath this was going to be...


	15. chapter 13

Lizzie

I was back in the hotel room, waiting for Freyja to get out of the shower. Rejection hurts a lot. I sighed as I keep thinking back to that one moment where she hit me in the face. Should I talk to her? Or wait for her to make the first move? I wouldn't know. All I know, is that I need something to get my mind off all this mess. I look up as the bathroom door opens. I walk past her and take a hot shower. It helps me take my mind off things as I let the water fall on my body. About 2 minutes later, I get out and dry myself, putting on my favourite hoodie and walking to the main room. Freyja stands at the mirror, doing her make-up. "Oh there you are. We are going out, want to join?" She asks and I smile, grabbing my favourite hotpants and croptop, some heels I brought with me and do some quick make-up. Freyja smiles as finish our make-up and I grab my leather jacket and my phone and wallet. "Let's go." I say with a smile and she laughs. "Oh how I love that victorious smile of yours after you won." Freyja tells me while we walk downstairs and I laugh. "It was just too fun, to watch the guys wrestle against us. I mean, Alfie isn't really a shotcaller, but he isn't terrible either. But because I am the only shotcaller in our team, it just works better." I say and she stops me. "It is not just that. You are really versatile in champions. You are really easy to draft with, because your champpool is bigger than Faker's. You were risking a lot with that Morgana, but it worked out. You know where weaknesses are and you try to close them, where most teams focus on the biggest weak link." She explains to me and I smile. "Thanks Freyja." I say as we walk downstairs. Once in the main lobby, people are staring after me and Freyja, and once arrived at the boys, I catch QuickShot and Eefje glancing at me. "Let's go." I say, trying to be hyped up, and Erik smiles. "Yeah let's go." He says and I follow him. We walk in front and he informs me that when some casters heard we were going out, they decided to join too." He says and I look at him. "And she is with them?" I ask and he nods. I sigh and keep walking.

Once we arrived in the club, we all went separate ways. Me, Erik and Ezra stayed together, drinking and cracking jokes. Ezra was constantly watching the door as Erik kept paying my refills. I didn't mind, it brought my mind to a better place, in my opinion. Ezra and Erik kept exchanging looks and then when I was drunk enough, they turned to me. "We wanted to talk to you Lizzie." Ezra says and I look at him. "Say it." I say with a slurred voice and Erik laughs. "Well, the thing is, Erik kind of told me about what happened today, so we didn't want this to be kept a secret. Erik and I are dating." He tells me and I look at him, starting to giggle. They turn to each other and shrug. I smile and turn to them. "I knew the both of you were gay." I giggle and they sigh. "She's 100% drunk." Erik says and Ezra nods. Erik grabs his phones, types something and puts his phone away again. Purely coincidentally, Eefje walks into the club at the same time and walks to our booth. Ezra and Erik leave and before I can follow, she and Quickshot are at my table. "I'll go." I mutter and try to stand up, but QuickShot pushes me down again. "You'll listen first." He says and looks at Eefje. "I'll be with the others. Good luck." He says and I look at him as he walks away. "Hey." She starts after it has been silent for a while. "Hey." I mutter back and she laughs. "Must be strange, to talk to me after my sudden outburst this afternoon." She says and I shrug. "I mean, what other could you do? Run away? I mean, yeah it hurt, but at least I know you don't like me." I say and she laughs. "You are really drunk." She says and I look at her. She bends over the table and grab my hands. "I don't hate you, I am not straight, and yes I shouldn't have hit you, but you telling Erik you loved me, surprised me. I just didn't know how to respond and I just hit you square in the face, but the truth is, I do love you Lizzie. And I wanna give us a chance. You are legit the sole reason I barely slept this split, because you are the reason I struggle accepting the person I am. Because you made me face my inner demons, you made me realise, that dating a guy was purely to forget I didn't love them. You are the reason I am the Eefje I was this split." She says and I hear the desperation in her voice for me to tell or ask her something. I swallow and look at her. "So you don't hate me?" I ask, my voice breaking at the end. She shakes her head and I smile I get up and pull her up too. "Let's go dance." I say and pull her towards the dance floor.

The rest of the night is a blur for me. I remember dancing, making out a little with Eefje, drinking more and more and the best part, Eefje and I going to her hotel room. The next morning I wake up with the hangover of doom but as I open my eyes, I see Eefje sleeping in my arms. I smile as I look at her beautiful, orange-like hair. She sleeps peacefully, so I reach out for my phone to check the time and my messages. I see it is already 12pm, and to my shock, our teamchat exploded with messages. Photos of last night, the team hugging after we won yesterday, but most of all, worried messages about me.

"[7.39]Freyja: She still hasn't arrived."

"[10.59]Oliver: Tried to call her, got voicemail."

"[11.00]Luis: I give her to 1pm to call us. Knowing where she woke up last time she was hung over, it can take a little while."

"[11.52]Ezra: I am getting worried now too."

"[11.53]Alfie: Krepo saw her leave with Eefje, but Eefje's phone was dead, so he couldn't reach her."

"[12.02]Liz: Guys I am okay, just woke up. Will be home around 3pm."

"[12.03]Freyja: Thank God you responded. Where have you been?"

"[12.03]Sabine: You are in trouble Liz, a lot of trouble."

"[12.04]Luis: Let her Sabine, she is safe and probably slept somewhere safe too."

"[12.05]Liz: I slept on Eefje's hotel couch. I was too drunk to go home alone."

I shut off my phone when I feel Eefje move and look at her. I see her eyes opening tiredly and smile as she seems really happy I stayed. "What time is it?" She mutters and I smile. "A little over noon. How are you?" I ask and she seems really happy. "I am okay, now that you are still here." She tells me and I smile. "Must've been as hard for you as for me to stay away from you." I say and she smiles. "Really hard, since I was convinced you were really straight. I always saw you interact with the guys and rarely with any other girls than you coach and analyst." She tells me and I smile. She sits up, groans as she notices the disgusting headache a hangover gives you before looking me in the eye. "You are 100% what I ever wanted in my life. Someone who doesn't give up on me." she says and I smile. "And you are everything I ever wanted. Kind, caring and ridiculously smart." I say and she blushes. She grabs my chin and brings it to her lips. As our lips connect, I feel more awake and alive than ever. The headache fades away and her soft lips are the only think I can even think about. As she ends the kiss, I open my eyes and stare in her grey ones. "Wow." We say at the same time and I laugh. "That was amazing." I say and she giggles. "You are amazing." She says, laying her head against my chest. I smile and pet her head. "This might be unnecessary, but will you be my girlfriend?" She asks and I nod. She smiles as she pulls me down again in a laying position. "When do you have to be back?" she asks and I smile. "3 o'clock." I tell her and she smiles. "good, that leaves us 2 and a half hours together." She sighs in a content voice and I smile, pulling her against me closely.

Around 2.30pm, after we freshened up, we left for my hotel, about 15 minutes from Eefje's hotel. We walked through Krakow, holding hands until we reach the hotel. We enter the lobby and are immediately engulfed by the team. Ezra, Erik, Luis and Freyja immediately are around my nech, Aidan and Joe thank Eefje for bringing me home and Sabine looks pissed off. "You have problem." She says and I look at her, rolling my eyes. "No she doesn't." Oliver says, suddenly appearing from the stairs and looking at her. "Or do you want me to tell them where you spend the night, and with who?" He asks and she looks at him furiously. "You wouldn't dare." She says and he smiles. "Oh but I would. She spend the night in..." Oliver starts before he is cut off by a pissed looking Sabine "That's enough Oliver." She interrupts Oliver but Ezra is immediately looking at Oliver. "Tell us Oliver." He commands and Oliver looks at us. "She slept over at Hybrid's room, and tried to sneak into our room at 7am in the morning." Oliver says and I look at her. "Sabine?" I ask and she looks at me. "And you were sleeping at Sjokz' room." She turns to me and I hear everyone gasping as I move closer. "Don't... you ever dare... to insult her again." I hiss at her, eyeing her aggressively. "Calm down Liz." Eefje says from behind but I ignore her. Sabine looks at me and I see an undecided war in her eyes. Will she bow to me, or fight? But before she can even answer, I walk off. I hear the breathe of air everyone takes as two different footsteps come running my way, and soon Eefje and Erik are next to me. I smile at them as I walk to my room and open it. Eefje smiles and follows, as Erik is a little hesitant. "Do you remember what I told you last night?" he asks and I nod. "About you and Ezra, and I approve Erik." I say and he smiles. He follows me inside and I close the door. "Eefje, this is Erik, he is my gay friend and best support I've ever had the honor of playing with." I introduce Erik and she smiles. "Pleasure to finally really meet you Erik." She says, smiling widely. I look at her. "Can we tell him?" I ask and she nods. "We are dating." I say and he gasps, pulling me in a hug and shaking me a little. "I KNEW IT!" He screams and lets me go, just to pull Eefje in for a hug. "Well played, Eefje." He says and gives her a hug. I smile and look with a happy smile at my girlfriend and friend hugging and think to myself: 'What can go wrong?'


	16. Chapter 14

Liz

After the quite eventful third place finals, we headed back to Berlin, where in the meanwhile the staff building was finished. In the week before we headed to Korea, we refurbished the house, moved our entire staff over to the tiny building (which wasn't as tiny as it looked, long live the basement Ezra's dad had created for us.) and soon after we had enough rooms free to bring in future substitutes. Seika was investing in real estate to bring in some extra money in the gaming business. We wanted to create a gamers neighbourhood in Berlin. Everyone was really excited to make the gaming industry in Berlin grow, and in Krakow we had already convinced ocelot to invest with us. The neighbourhood where our gaming house is, is perfect for the plan we have of plenty of large gaming houses, some shops, and most importantly, gaming arenas. It was a huge risk and I was trying to reach out to as few as I needed. Together with G2, I also reached out to Origin and Unicorns of Love. OG and UoL had to consider, but when H2k heard by accident, they committed too. Soon it was all to change.

Then we had our love lives. Ezra and Erik were a secret, me and Eefje were a secret, and neither of the couples were really happy with that. Erik sneaks into Ezra's room all of the time, and Eefje and I try to let her sleep with me. It is still a little problem that whenever I wanted to take Eefje on a date, I had to take her to the other side of the city. But time went by quickly and soon the team and I were on the airport, heading to Korea to bootcamp. I was sad, I wouldn't see Eefje until worlds.

Bootcamping went horrible. We lost a lot, and the only one to get actually high on the Challenger ladder was I. Ezra, Aidan and Joe didn't even make it to challenger, where Erik was low challenger. I was rank 21 before we left for San Francisco. Even there scrims went terrible, especially because basically no one wanted to scrim against us. Everyone was down. "Even G2-8 has more chance." Erik muttered on the night before gameday. I nodded in agreement before we got send off to our beds.

When we woke up, we were all down. "Be ready to go 0-6 the next two weeks." Sabine told us and we nod. "Let's just do our best, and we'll see where we end up." I encourage the guys and they all smile. Erik gives me a quick hug and I smile. We all change into our jerseys and grab our mousepads, waterbottles and backpack, walking downstairs to the shuttle. As we arrive, I see multiple shuttles arrive too and teams getting out. TSM, ROX, Albus Nox Luna and Cloud 9. I sighed as I see people like Bjergsen, Sneaky and Peanut walking around. "Remember, we are new here, we don't have any friends. Any attempt by people in our pool to befriend us, keep it on a personal level. We don't want a situation like Dyrus did with Dignitas." I say to the guys and they nod. We head inside and go towards the make-up area. There all casters, players and coaches are getting ready to go live. Sabine and I go to the small girl corner while the guys stay behind with casters. I give Eefje a quick hug and then sit down in the chair to let the lady do my make-up. Eefje leaves, wishing me a quick goodluck, and soon we are shown our teamroom. As we walk to the eating area, Ezra and I talk in dutch about the pros. Aidan and Erik look confused at us as we talk rapidly about Faker and Peanut, two really scary people for the both of us. "I'm also really scared of Deft, he is really good." I tell Ezra and he shrugs. "I just hope I won't have to face anyone like Faker." He jokes and I laugh. I finish eating and we go to our teamroom to discuss strats and extra picks. "They are going to focus on Liz, as she is Europe's jungle Queen. The bans are going to be around her. They know she is prone to taking off-meta picks, so I suggest we'll let her open until the last second. We start redside, so we have pickadvantage." Sabine instructs us and I nod, smiling as I know we are going to give them what they don't want. "I want an Ekko with me, I think it is great to have someone like him in our team." I tell Sabine and she nods. "I want to have Joe on him, Ezra on Vel'koz. Might not be a professional pick, but is still extremely overpowered." She explains and I nod. "I think we need to have a tank support." I hear Erik murmur and I nod. "Tahm." I suggest and he nods. "It is pretty overpowered, 2 healthbars and he has global pressure." Sabine says and I nod. Not much later we are directed to the security. We get checked and our keyboards and mice are handed to us. I follow the guys to stage and smile as we sit down. Sabine gives us something like a hope speech while we go through Champ select.

And not to our surprise, we lost that game. We walked off the stage, our heads low in shame. "We don't deserve to be here." I hear Erik say next to me. I turn to him and nod. "How are you and...?" I ask and he smiles. "He cheered me up, he said it wasn't my fault." Erik tells me. I laugh. "He is right though Erik, the only one bad on this team is me. They expect me to be grand, but that is the reason I underperform." I say and he gives me a big hug. "It'll be okay Lizzy, you just never played on a stage this big, it'll come to you after a lot of practise." He says and I smile. "You really are the best." I murmur to him while giving him a big hug. He smiles as he leaves me to go to Ezra. I walk to the ladies restroom and fix my make-up when Eefje walks in and drags me into a stall and kisses me. I don't hesitate to kiss her back and she deepens the kiss. As soon as we let go, we both try to catch our breath. "Not that I complain, but what was that for?" I ask with a broad smile and she hugs me. "You looked so down on stage, and I wanted to cheer you up a little." She tells me and I laugh, as I hug her. "Thank you." I say and she lays her head to rest in the crook of my neck and inhales my scent. "I should get going back to the desk." She says and I let her go slowly. "You have to?" I ask and she nods. I give her a quick kiss and she blows me a kiss, before she leaves. As soon as she is out of sight, I bring my fingers up to my lips to feel where she kissed me, before I smile broadly and run back to the team.


	17. Chapter 15

Lizzy

To say that we felt like the only thing we deserved at Worlds was to be clapped, was an understatement. We managed to win 1 game against EDG but that was it. 2-1 in the first week and we already felt like we did not belong here. Of course all eyes were on us, I mean, the new guys making it to worlds in their first split was a unique thing, and we were disappointing. Tensions were high, especially when it was clear I was the one underperforming. And while everyone seemed convinced that we would be okay because this was just our first tournament, and I was constantly counterpicked, I feared it was the end of DMF.

Eefje was the only one who managed to talk some sense into me when I was about to lose it. We had just lost to AHQ and I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Eefje was just backstage as she didn't have to do any interviews when I walked in, like zombie. Arms had been around me while Ezra had been searching for Eefje. I was just crying and sobbing while Erik had send everyone away. Ezra managed to smuggle her into the room. She just held me, soothed me, and I was calming down quicker than I ever thought was possible. She just smiled as she held me. "You can do this. You have shown you can when you did the impossible in Berlin and became the Queen of the Jungle. Hell even Jankos is afraid of you. You are known for the off-meta picks. Do whatever feels right." She whispered as I managed to calm down and I just looked in her eyes as she pushed back one of my brown locks. "Relax sweetheart, you got this." She whispers and I smile as I give her a quick kiss. She responds happily and gives me one last hug. "I have to go, I will see you tonight?" She asks and I nod. She gives me a quick peck on the cheek, a small wink before she ran off.

And here we are, week 2. And to be honest, I am not the most confident in myself now. I have been practising some of my more comfort-y picks. And especially now that the team would be more focussed around what would be left for me to pick, I was feeling a bit better than last week. We were 1-2 and while we gave up any tactics, we did get higher and higher in the challenger ladder. We called a last minute team meeting, about two hours before we had the deadline for the startingroster. Sabine and Luis stood in front of us. "We have a plan, and it might be insane, but it could work if you would agree." Sabine starts and Freyja nods. "Liz, you and Aidan swap roles. You both have been playing each other's role a lot in soloqueue and they will never see it coming." Sabine says and the team jumps up in anger. I just look at Aidan and nod. "We'll do it." He says and I nod. "Sabine is right, I have been autofilled into adc a lot, Aidan into jungle, this could work. Just give me a Jinx or Tristana and we'll come a long way." I say and Erik looks at me. "You sure?" He asks and I nod. "We can do this. We have the space to make mistakes since we are probably going out anyways. And who knows? This might work!" I say and Ezra looks at me. "Let's do this then. And let's win them all." He says and I nod.

And thus we walk backstage, smiling at most people but staying focussed. A few are just being curious and a few others stare at us. Back in our game room we started to giggle. "Did you see Perkz' face when we walked by?" Ezra hiccups as Erik stares his way, in that smitten way. "I sadly did see it. He looked like an idiot." I say with a small smile "I think they were told that we had a small roster swap.". Ezra nods and turns to Aidan and Joe. "Y'all okay with how we doin'?" Ezra says in that fake British accent of his, making us all crack up. "Yeah man, we cool." Joe tells him with that playful smile he always has on his face whenever we make a joke. Sabine suddenly turns to me. "Make a "death or victory speech or shall I?" She softly asks and I smile. "I will." I whisper back and she nods. I clap in my hands, getting their attention. "Today is the day, second week at worlds and the last day of our group's play-offs for worlds. While I admit that it will be hard this week to proof that we are Europe's pride, we do have a chance to show the world that we never give up. Not in the face of defeat. Granted, a 1-2 score is not ideal to go into the second week, but remember, we did win a game. If we win at least 2 games today it will probably lead to a tiebreaker for second place, and we can get that second place! Nothing is impossible, not even winning against EDG. And we shall win, even if it is that one pesky little game. We will win a game to show that we don't go down without a fight. We won't go down like G2 at MSI, we will go down as Fnatic in 2014's worlds. Heads up high and knowing that it was hard enough to win against most of these teams. I believe in us and our ability to fight for what we believe." I speech and I see cameras filming from behind as I take a deep breath. "This week is our week, this is the week we show that DMF shall not go down without a fight. LET'S GO!" I scream as I put my hand out, everyone laying their hands on mine. "1, 2, 3, DMF!" We scream and then sit down, looking at the TV. First game, EDG against INTZ was a hyped game. Last week INTZ managed to upset EDG and take the win, but today was different, nothing was left of the confident team that stood last week as EDG managed to shatter their strategy and just crush them into the ground. It wasn't before long that everyone saw their nexus shatter and the shaking of hands. We got up, went through security and walked onto the stage. We were directed to our chairs and I almost sat down on the chair where the jungler sits. Erik quickly pulls me towards the ADC chair and I smile. "Thanks friend." I say and connect my keyboard and mouse. I get comfy, take one of the handwarmers we were handed before we got onto the stage and warm my hands. It takes a while, but we chat away. Mostly about the games, but more about the regular things like food or something. It takes a while, AHQ is having trouble with one of the keyboards malfunctioning, but after 10 minutes we are loading in into the tournament game of Worlds. We keep talking until Sabine's calm and collected voice comes through. "Let's focus, we have to try our best remember?" She says and we nod, as we see the queue turn into the champ select. We sigh as we wait. "Bans?" Erik asks Joe and he sighs. "We have to play comfort pick, but they will ban those because they don't know what we want to play, so we have to ban a few of their out." He says and Sabine hums in agreement. We ban Lee, Darius and Lucian. They ban Shyvana, Jinx and Ahri. Joe looks at us as he gets to pick and lock in. "Who?" He asks and we shrug. "Do yours, Joe." Sabine says and he locks his Gangplank. We immediately see Ezreal and Braum as their lock ins pop up and Erik looks at me. "Any champ you would feel comfortable on?" He asks and I smile. "That Braum means both Ali and Thresh are free, and my Kalista too. That would mess up their lane. Who picks Ezreal and Braum in the same team anyways?" I say and Erik and Ezra snort at the same time. "Second picks?" Sabine asks and Ezra looks my way. "Lock in mine?" He asks and I nod as he locks in my Kalista while Aidan locks in his Ekko. "Ooooh I missed playing this champ." He moans and we all giggle. "C'mon dude, keep it in your pants." Joe teases as Aidan laughs. They pick Olaf and Rumble, leaving their mid open till last second. "What do you prefer m'lord?" I tease Ezra and he looks at their comp. "They'll go Syndra or something mobile, so give me Lux." He says and I lock his in, while Erik locks in his Thresh. "Some hooks never hurt." He says and I smile at him. They lock in Syndra, as Ezra predicted and we load into the game. Early game goes against all odds and we go even, managing to secure me a first blood and a double kill but we had to let Aidan die, who just kept screaming "PUSH PUSH KILL KILL NICEEEE" which had me even more focussed on doing it okay. Warding, CS'ing and all was getting easier and easier as the game progressed since we didn't give them the time to recuperate bot. Sure, they had this whole camping thing down and were doing it okay, but it left us with an opening top and mid to get a lead. After a very even 17 minutes, we made the call to do drake, and actually catching their bot and jungle doing it. A 4v3 with half of their team at half health was no match for us, making sure we could kill them. I just speared the dragon as often as I could and then when I saw everyone was low, I just pulled them out and managed to take down their Olaf and drake. We then turned to mid and started pushing. The sudden overwhelming violence pushed them back, forcing them to play defensive. The Ekko proved invaluable, the sudden engage and then ulti managed to shatter their defence since they tunnelvisioned the Ekko, leaving me and Erik to stomp down the turrets. We had them in a little over 25 minutes. We jumped up in happiness, since we couldn't believe we actually won quite quickly. We shook hands and got back stage, cheering and dancing. We gave back our keyboard and mouse and went to our room, ready to discuss and win more.

EDG and AHQ had been the scariest coming into today's games. They were 2-1 both and had extremely strong teams. We had feared them a lot and with this dominant win over AHQ, we were slightly overestimating our own capabilities. We just rolled over INTZ but the game against EDG took a different turn. It started with a total of 5 ADCs banned, leaving me without a Kalista, Jinx or Kog'maw to play. They had taken my backup plan, Ashe and I was left in a rough spot. So I took Cait, Erik went Morgana and we were just hoping for the best. And it certainly was not that. EDG steamrolled over bot, leaving us without turrets at bot. Joe was camped and Ezra was the only one who was having a ball in mid, just oneshotting everyone who dared to step foot in his lane. It ended up being the sole reason we won. His Syndra turned out to be too powerful to be stopped and managed to stun the whole team in the midst of a teamfight, leaving them prone to our engage comp and I sniped down their top for the ace. Joe had a triple and we had their mid in a chokehold. There were multiple ways for them to turn this around, but every single time we were forced to give up a lane, we took our focus to another lane, playing around with them until either of us made the wrong call. And boy, did they make the worst call that was absolutely possible. They called for baron, exactly while we were warding it and rotating top. Aidan spotted them out and immediately called "BARON NOW" while Erik, Ezra and I rushed over, Joe TP'ing in from base. Three in front of the opening of the baronpit and two behind it turned out to be the single worst call of the game. Erik stunned their Jungler, I killed it with their mid, adc and support and I kept shouting "PENTA PLS PENTA PLS" when Joe managed to bait it into my way, giving me the penta. Everyone screamed "NICUH NICE PUSH MID PUSH MID" while I just sighed "GG ez did not even fear them." We pushed, knocked over their nexus turrets and backed. "Remind me, why are we backing?" Erik asks and I smile. "Because they won't see this coming." I say and Joe snorts. "Oh they will see it coming, just in another way than they expected. Dragon bait or mid team fight bait oh sweet Fed Me." He joked and I smile. "Take them mid, I can go through their jungle." I say and he nods. Within moments the waiting and baiting game begins. We push top and bot onto the base and then group mid, me being as far away as possible. And they take the bait! I just smile and run into the base, killing the inhib in a few shots (Long live the AD life) and make my way to the nexus alone, just me against the nexus. Oddly enough, they don't see it and keep fighting mid. I keep shooting the nexus and hear "They are retreating, kill them now!" from Aidan making me nervous. As the first few get back into the base, I finally finish off the nexus and we jump up, cheering loudly as we hug each other. Aidan and I break away first and make our way over to the EDG guys and shake their hand, giving a slight bow for each one of them. We make our way backstage and are immediately greeted by an overexcited Freyja, Sabine, Oliver and Luis. We hug them and Sabine started to smile. "That last teamfight was so well played! I felt like a proud team mommy!" She laughs and I laugh with her. "We learned from the best!" I say and she smiles.

An hour later we find ourselves on the stage again, this time for the tiebreaker against EDG. The bans are now not all against me but more overall. Last game's Morgana, Ekko and Syndra were banned. I turn to Ezra and I look at him. "Just like old times?" I ask and he nod. "Can we have Akali and Draven?" I ask Sabine and she looks at me. "What would you play with it?" She wonders and I smile. "Erik, if he wants to, Bard or Sona, Aidan something tanky like Gragas and Joe Darius. We have balanced AP/AD and tank stats and they won't see it coming, Ezra picking Akali." I say and she looks at her notes and to the bans. "That might work." She says and I smile. "We are picking Darius first, Ezra and Aidan pick bot, and then Liz and Erik pick Gragas and Akali." She commands and we nod. We hover Teemo for a while before locking in Darius, then see an Irelia lock-in and an Ashe. Ezra looks at me and I look at Erik. "Lock in Bard for me, that with Draven is just stupid and fun." He says and Ezra locks in my Draven and Aiden the Bard. They pick Braum and Lulu. "That's a Lulu mid, please lock in the Akali." Ezra smiles as I lock in his Akali and Erik the Gragas. Their last pick is a not-so-surprising Zac. We load in and wait for the game to start.

Apparently our comp worked, but I say it was their demotivation after we shattered them last time. Within 28 minutes we had their nexus. We rose, congratulated them, and moved backstage. One of the Rioters took me and Aidan out of the group and pushed us back towards the stage where QuickShot stood and as we came closer, he pulled me in a hug and then high-fived Aidan. "Twitter has you guys trending with #Euphoria" he says and I shake my head and laugh. "Oh god, I feel pressured." I say and Aidan rolls his eyes. We hear the analysts going on and on behind their desk on our game and then we hear, finally might I add: "And now we throw it over to QuickShot who stands with Feed Me and I Only Jungle after their brilliant game. QuickShot, take it away." Dash' voice says. "Helloooooooo San Francisco! I stand here with two of the victorious team "Darkness my Friend" who just turned their 1-2 into a 4-2 and won the tiebreaker. Feed Me, first reaction?" He asks and I lift my mic. "Well, to be honest, I thought it would be over after tonight after we underperformed last week, but it seems we have made up what we had in mistakes last week and learned from them, so I am really glad to be the first seed into the quarter finals." I say and Aidan nods. "And I think we had all made peace with the fact that EU was not the strongest region this year, especially since both us and Splyce are new this season and both managed to make it to worlds. But where G2 had a strong pool and Splyce are also struggling with their pool, we managed to stay strong and learn from our, but also our pool's mistakes and turn them into our victory. And that can be hard." He says and QuickShot smiles. "That I cannot argue with. Then to the last game, the tiebreaker. What in the world made you choose Akali against a Lulu?" Trevor asks and I smile. "Well my dear, dear QuickShot, Ezzieboy and I used to do this all the time in soloqueue whenever I would get filled into ADC. His shroud and my ult is the way to bait people and kill them, and we really wanted to do that again, so we did!" I say and Quickshot smiles. "One last question, from everyone in Worlds, even the ones that are already out, who would you want to play against this worlds?" Trevor asks and I smile and answer: "Either SKT or ROX, they seem really strong and I want to see how far we can get against them." I say and Aidan looks at me. "I would like them, but also ANX or FW, they seem strong too and I would like to spar with Likkrit, the strong support he is." Aidan says and Trevor nods. "Thanks a lot! I wish you the best of luck for the rest of worlds, and now back to the analyst desk." He closes off and quickly bids us farewell before running off elsewhere. We walk backstage and quickly grab our stuff to go back to the hotel.


	18. Chapter 16

Liz

To be honest, a 4-0 week has never felt this great. While we felt bad for the rest of EU, Splyce and G2 lost pretty damn hard, we felt celebrated. We were welcomed back into the hotel with hugs and kisses, TSM and G2 telling us and C9 that we had to bring them pride. Splyce just shrugged it off, and told everyone that we would bring our regions pride.

Before we could fly out to Chicago, we had to be drawn into the groups. Every team had to send out a guy or girl to represent their team to shake hands with the other person they were drawn to play against. DMF had decided it had to be me. So there I stood, between SKT, ROX and SSG. The one EU girl between all Korean guys. Before the show we shook hands, greeted and talked. Then this rushed rioter came to push us onto the stage. The draw was simple, first all the first placed groups, then the second. So I stood there, waiting for the show to start. Jatt and Riv were talking to production guys and we stood there. The Koreans around me were talking in rapid Korean while I stood there awkwardly. Suddenly the lights flashed on and everyone silenced and moved back to their spot as the teamlogos appeared behind the players. I stood silently as Jatt and Riv introduced the whole thing and explained the rules. Wildturtle stood behind the bowls where the teamnames would be drawn from. Riv introduced the teams, and the players, one by one. First ROX, then SKT, then it was my turn. "From Europe and the only EU team left standing, from Darkness my Friend, Feed Me!" He belted out and I waved at the crowd with a small smile as I got a small cheer, like SKT and Rox. Then SSG was announced to complete the first seed teams, and onto the second seed teams. I stood there frozen, waiting for my team to be called in the drawing. After the last huge applause given to Sneaky (the NA crowd was of course only supportive of Sneaky, I mean, it's freaking NA.) Riv gave WildTurtle the go to draw the first seed teams. SKT and ROX on one side, SSG and us on the other. I was holding my breath now. WildTurtle moved on to the second bowl. The first team to be drawn was ANX. SKT walked up to them to shake hands and they were about to move over when Jatt suddenly stopped. "Wrong draw! ANX would end up in the same half of the bracket as ROX, meaning that ANX slides over into the next available spot, which would be Darkness my Friend!" He says. SKT walks back and I move over to the middle, in front of the cup. I shake hands and move with him to the lightened spot on the ground. The only words spoken are "Good luck, we won't go easy." From the ANX player and I nod

The rest of the draw goes quick and before we know it we are pushed off the stage and into shuttles and to the hotels. We pack up, catch a flight out and find ourselves in Chicago. We get the mandatory tour of the backstage area before we are led to our teamroom. We sit down and all eyes are focussed on me. "What?" I ask softly and Sabine sighs. "You have barely said a word since you went onto the stage yesterday and we did hear from a rioter that you and aMiracle did speak." She says and I nod. "Not lied, aMiracle said they wouldn't go easy on us. And that is all there was said." I say softly and look at Aidan. "We need to continue the roleswap. You were amazing this weekend and we need amazing right now." I say softly and he nods "You know, you are not too shabby of an ADC and taking care of my support. If it wins us the games, we will do it." He says and I nod. I look at Sabine, Luis and Freyja. "It is your call, of course, but I have an idea. I am 90% sure that C9 is out next round, meaning we will need to play SSG, and I do not trust that." I say and the nod. "I play out of my comfort zone, complete fill to whatever the teamcomp needs. If that works and we manage to 3-0 ANX, I am confident that we are able to at least snoop away one dame from SSG." I say and add "Right now, we are in the rumoured easiest group, and I cannot disagree with that, but if we make it out we come into a Korean slaughter fest I rather not be in, so we have to step our games and do EU proud. I know we can do this, maybe not take on SKT or a RNG, but we can take down ANX and show we are strong and can fight. We have to be greater than NA." I say and everyone looks at me. "I was silent the last few hours because I have been brooding up some ideas. And they may seem ridicule but I want you to know we can at least have one fun game if we know we are going down, but some may work." I say and Sabine smiles. "Tell us." She says and I start explaining.

The following days we spend hours gaming and practising and coming up with creative strategies. Oliver cooks for us and on late nights he makes sure we are in bed before twelve and up around 8 am. It worked, everything we practised. We scrimmed against C9, SKT and ROX and honestly tried our best. To our surprise we managed to get some wins against ROX and even one against SKT. Thursday afternoon Sabine and Luis gathered us all after lunch. "Tomorrow quarters start, we don't play until Monday but do want you to have some time to yourself, so you are all free to go and do whatever you want to do. Just be back before midnight." Luis says and we all jump up. I shoot a quick text to ask Eefje how late she gets off work and she texts me back directly saying they are already wrapped up due to some bug in the system and asks why. I text her the address of a café near our hotel and ask her to meet me there. I leave the group with the excuse I need some alone time and go to the café. I'm on my second mint tea when she enters and walks to me. "Hey babe." She says as she sits down across me. "How are you?" She asks with a gentle smile and I laugh. "Oh I cannot wait for it all to be over. All the scrimming." I say with a smile as the bartender comes with her mint tea and she smiles as a thanks to the bartender. "So, what has you off this early from all the hard work?" She asks and I shrug. "We spend last nights scrimming until midnight when Oliver would drag us from the computer so they decided we needed a break. And I couldn't agree more." I say with a small smile and she laughs and puts a piece of hair out of my face. "So how did you escape the gaming house alone?" She then asks and I shrug. "Said I needed alone time, Ezra and Erik seemed to know what I truly meant and the rest just thinks I am shopping now probably." I say softly and she looks me in the eyes. "Truly?" She asks and kisses me over the table. I kiss her back with a smile and she giggles and softly bites my lip. I smirk into the kiss and kiss her back. She suddenly lets go and helps me up, pays the waiter with just 20 bucks and pulls me out of the cafeteria. She drags me across the street as I finally manage to catch up to her pace without being drug everywhere. "What is up Eef?" I ask and she smiles at me. "Well you said shopping and I saw some shirts that screamed you earlier today, so we are getting those." She says with a huge smile and we walk into one small boutique. An old lady walks up to us and her face lights up as she sees Eefje. "You came to pick up the shirts?" She asks and Eefje nods. "This is the girl I wanted them for. Liz, meet Mrs Weir. She is an old friend of James. Mrs Weir, this is my girlfriend Lizzie." She introduces us and the woman smiles warmly as she grabs a few tees and hand them to me. "Go fit them girl." She says with a warm smile. The shirts are all funny tees and I fit them all. "They are perfect." I say and grab my card, but Eefje stops me. "They were already paid for." She says and the nice lady nods. "Go, enjoy them. And have fun with your girl." She says and I nod as we leave her shop. Eefje smiles and I look at her. "What next?" I ask and she shrugs. "Maybe wanna go to my hotel? Spend some time together and grab dinner later?" She suggests and I nod. "Let's go." I say with a smile as she grabs a cab and goes to her hotel.

The night goes quite nicely. We snog most of the time on her couch, on her bed and when she has to take a shower, she keeps yelling things like "Don't distract me and I will be with your cute butt sooner." Or "You know I work quicker if you don't distract me with your insane capability to make me see you in all kinds of poses." And all of them make me smile. She comes into the room about half an hour later, dressed in comfy jeans and a nice warm sweater fit for the Chicago cold in Autumn. She lets me borrow another sweater that is just a little large for me and we are off to some kind of Mediterranean restaurant with amazing pasta's and even better baklava. After dinner we go for a walk in a park and then decide to head back to her hotelroom where she makes me a coffee and we sit on her bed and talk. She begs me to let her braid my hair and do my nails, so I end up with a nicely braided hairdo of two braids starting in the front and go down all the way and with purple nails and our logo on my thumbs. I give her a massage as a thank you and we spend the night together happily. Around a quarter to twelve we doze off for a deep night's sleep together, she wrapped into my arms, spooned against each other as her calm breaths of sleep help me sleep.

It is a little after 6am she wakes me up with a deep kiss and my phone screeching some Halestorm song. "It is Oliver." She says and I sleepily pick up. "Where are you Liz? You better be somewhere safe." I hear Oliver say and I sleepily reply: "Chill out, I just spent the night with Eefje, no worries, I will be back." And I realise what I said. Oliver falls silent as well before saying. "Bring her with you, and we want you here before the team wakes up." He says and I turn to her. "This is bad?" She asks and I nod. "We have to get to them as soon as possible." I say and she nods, getting dressed quietly and grabs her keys. "They don't know about us?" She asks as we leave the room and I look at her. "Now they are about to do know." I say gently as we get into the elevator downstairs and she looks at me. "Nothing will change what I feel for you babe, if this works, it works." She says and kisses me gently. "I love you." I say softly and look her in the eyes as she smiles back with a broad smile. "I love you too." She says and she enters the recently arrived elevator. As we get downstairs, she turns to me. "I haven't slept more than two hours in a night for over months. So thank you." She says and I smile at her as we leave the lobby and get ourselves a taxi to my hotel. As we open our hotelsuite door, a group of 8 disappointed and curious faces sit on the couch and Oliver looks at us, one eyebrow up. "Explain," He commands as I let Eefje sit and take a deep breath. "It all started…"


	19. Chapter 17

Liz

The group's tension could've killed someone. "It all started back in Berlin." I say softly and grab Eefje's hand, seeking comfort. I was alone and scared, fearing that the only feelings felt were from me. It started rough but we ended up together not too long after. Worlds and bootcamp have ensured that we couldn't spend any time together and most of our moments were brief and rushed. Last night was the longest time we spend together and we just fell asleep and forgot all about time." I say softly and Eefje lets go of my hand and wraps an arm around my shoulder. "It is no secret that I have always been secretive about who I date and who I have dated, and while David and Mitch were more flings than actually dates, I have never felt anything this real with them. I still have to come to terms with being bi, but I know enough to know Liz means the world to me." She says and looks me in the eyes. "She is my everything, and always there for me. When I am feeling down or happy, she is just a text away." She says and I smile and hug her tightly. Ezra rises with Erik. "If we are playing open and honest, we should be too." Ezra says and Erik nods. "We have been dating as well, and knew of Eefje and Lizzie." Erik adds and I look at them. "Guys, you shouldn't have done that." I say softly and Ezra sighs. "Li-…" He starts but Oliver shuts him down. "I think we should apologize." He says softly and Eefje, Ezra, Erik and I look up in shock. "If you felt like you should hide this from us, we have failed you, and not just you Liz and Eefje, but you too Ezra and Erik. I know I want you to live healthy and undistracted from your job, but you three have been happier since we got here in the States and some of the pressure from bootcamp was taken off of you. And who are we to stand in the way of your happiness? We are not Korean teams who forbid romance. We are European and openminded. If this makes you happy, then it makes us happy." He says and Sabine steps forward. "It is true, you have been playing better in the last week and that has continued into this week. If this is what makes you both happy and play better, I think it is the best thing that could've happened to us. Same for you and Erik, Ezra. You two have a synergy made in heaven, and that is something that has only grown over the last few months. If it makes you happy, then we are happy." She says and walks to me, giving me a tight hug after Eefje has released me. "I love you for who you are and you know that. Don't hide this from anyone, you deserve to be out and happy." She says softly in the hug and I nod, a small tear falling. Eefje looks at us. "I still have an hour to go before I have to leave for the studio, and I honestly want a good breakfast right now, so let's go out together." She proposes and everyone jumps up and goes to grab their stuff. "I'm going to get a quick change. If you need anything, just ask one of the guys." I say and give her a quick peck on the lips and she nods. "Can I borrow a jacket of yours?" She asks before I go through my door and I nod, blowing her a quick kiss and change into fresh jeans, a tee with Pusheen on it, grab my purse with all my stuff in it and grab both my worlds and summer split team jacket and head out to Eefje, holding up both jackets. She grabs the worlds one and puts it on. "For goodluck." She says with a small kiss on the cheek and I blush.

We go out to a breakfast bar a few blocks away from the hotel and manage to squeeze all of us in relatively large booth, mostly because I sit on Eefje's lap and Ezra on Erik's. We order waffles, pancakes and all the other goodness the American Cuisine offers us and I feed pancake and waffles to Eefje, who just keeps kissing me every time I try and feed her. At one point Luis and Freyja yell at us in Spanish while Oliver just politely ask us to get a room, which earns him a glare from Eefje and a deep blush of mine while I bury my head in the crook of Eefje's neck. The group laughs while Joe rubs soothingly over my back. At one point our conversation turns to coming out and I suddenly stop them. "How are we going to tell the fans?" I ask softly and look at Eefje. "I mean, I am in no rush to tell them, but we do have the disadvantage of being a little bit in the public eye." I say softly and Eefje shrugs. "Wear a rainbow flag on stage and keep it at that. I am sure Riot will clear you for that." She says softly and I look at her. "You sure my love?" I ask softly and she nods. "Some ruling they set up a while ago so the players would be 'comfortable to come out'. A whole lot of training came with the ruling since both me, Mitch and Trevor have to be able to interview you for the whole shenanigans. If you submit your request tonight, chances are that you have the official approval by Sunday, which means you can wear the flags on your game Monday." She says softly and I look at the group, who is unusually quiet. Luis is the first to break that silence. "I think it is an amazing idea. Eefje, do the casters have to speak about it on the air before we walk up with them?" He asks and she shakes her head. "No, we are not even informed about them, so it is all you to just come out and be like 'surprise'. James, Trevor or I will probably jump on your neck after the games to talk about it." She says softly and Oliver and Sabine share a look. "We'll submit as soon as we get to the studios. You three need to design your own plan to come out." Sabine says and I nod.

After that things do quickly. Oliver spends his time making calls and subjecting all kinds of forms while the guys and I scrim. Sabine just keeps watching us while Luis is making strategies. In the brief breaks we have I either call with Eefje, or is she is unavailable, I work out the plan with Ezra and Erik. By the end of the day we have a rough draft of what we want. The following day is a repeat of the day before besides the fact that today we do watch the games. After them Ezra and I run into Chicago to grab some pride flags and work on our project. Sunday is again a repeat of Saturday and Sunday, only this time I am sowing in breaks to get our coming out ready in time. Erik and Ezra try them on and show them to Oliver and Sabine for approval. Ezra decided to go with an added 'cape' to his jersey's sleeve (his name had to be visible so he now just looked like a really gay superhero and he was already showing it off to everyone who wanted to see it), Erik with gloves made of the flag (Because "warm hands are the best hands to play with") while I am working on my train to attach to the jeans I will be wearing. It is the fact that I am able to get it working that gets me excited, since I feel powerful while wearing it. It is probably the feeling of the fabric dragging over the ground and the straight posture you have to have to be able to pull that off.

And then game day came. We all spend the day doing our thing. Erik and I spend the morning duo queuing and the afternoon I spend on the phone with Eefje. She already caught air of who was on the floor for the interviews and it would be her and Jatt. I smiled at the thought and told her I couldn't wait to see her.

We arrived at the studio makeup space in time. Makeup was done and they didn't look too surprised when Ezra, Erik and I asked for a little bit rainbow. Ezra and Erik got rainbow highlighter while they went all-out on me and gave me a relatively neutral eyelook, but rainbow brows and highlighter and did rainbow colours through my hair with washable paint. My lips were painted in a dark purple and the woman smiled. "You look smoking. Good luck today." She whispers and helps me out of the chair. Aidan, Joe, Sabine and Luis decide to get some rainbowhighlighter as well as Ezra, Erik and I get changed into our jerseys extraordinaire. Ezra's cape and my train had glitters all over while Erik's gloves had those little diamonds glued on here and there. We stood together for a moment. "You can back out." I say softly and Ezra smiles. "We won't" He says and I hug him as the group walks in. "Photo for on twitter later?" Sabine asks and I nod. I turn around with Erik and Ezra laughs as he realise we are making the photo from behind, turning too and poses with his hands shaped as a heart behind his head. Erik poses with each hand held up in a peace sign. I strike the same pose as Ezra with a bit more hip into it and Sabine takes the photo. We turn to see it and smile at the picture. "It is perfect." Joe says and I nod, giving him a hug before Aidan comes and hugs me and Erik. Ezra joins in the hug and soon we are all entangled in a grouphug. As we break apart Sabine hands me a rainbow printed fabric with a large C on it. "Luis, Freyja, Oliver, I and the whole team thought it would be nice for you to be officially acknowledged as the teamcaptain." She says and puts the band around my bicep. "We are all ready." She says and I nod. Oliver steps forwards and we all wait for him. "I just want to say we are proud of you. No matter what ANX will do to you, we are proud and you have shown everyone that we are better than the average EU team even though we may not have finished first in the EULCS. I am proud to be your manager and I am proud to see so many different people. Gay, bi or straight, we are there for each other and we will show that to the world." He says, ending his speech with sticking his hand out. We all join and scream: "1, 2, 3, DMF!" before a riot employee ushers us to the entrance. We all squeeze hands and then line up, Joe first, followed by Aidan, Ezra, me and then Erik. "-They will call out your role and then your name, and then you walk." A small girl rambles as we are checked and handed our keyboard and mouse. My mind goes blank after that and I wait for my name to hear. Joe goes out with cheers, followed by Aidan. Then Ezra makes his way out, the cheers grow louder as they catch his cape. Then it is my time. "-Playing the Marksman role, all the way from the Netherlands and Europe's own Queen, it is FEEDME!" I hear and I step out, shoulders straight, into the blinding light as I make my way towards the stage. The crowd is roaring while I barely notice anything but the overly bright lights and the fact that it is louder than usual. Erik comes out and soon we are seated and ready to begin the game. The last thing I hear before putting on my headset is "DMF is showing their pride…" Before the sound is cut off and I am in the call. "That was nerve wracking." Is the first thing I hear when I enter. Ezra is smiling at me and I nod. "I think I left my sanity in the backstage area." I say, my heart feeling like it is down in my belly and I suddenly start laughing with giddiness in my voice. "Let's wreck some Russians." I say with a smirk and log into the tournament game.


	20. Chapter 18

Eefje

It was always something else to watch Liz play. The way she either remained emotionless or went all out made it fascinating to watch her. I always entered a trance whenever I saw her summoner appear in screen, usually to make a beautiful play.

Today isn't that different. Liz was nervous to come out, something I wish she felt more comfortable with but I know the crushing effect the fans can have on you. And yet, through the stress and nerves, she holds her head high and walked straight into the cheering crowd. James and I are standing on a little side-balcony where the leader of the on-floor teams meets the leader of the desk. James and I were today, as usual, and he couldn't help but stare. "Did you know?" He asks me and I nod. "They told me earlier this morning." I say softly and look at the screen. "When are you going to come out?" He suddenly asks and I shoot up and look at him. "What?" I ask, half confused and half scared. He just smiles. "I am just saying, it is obvious the way you two interact back stage. And something tells me she wouldn't have come out as whatever she is if it weren't for a little push. And I know that Erik and Ezra are a good push, but not the one she needs." He says and I look at him. "It is complicated." I say and he nods. "Yes, yes it is. But you can play so beautifully into this. You can post an inspiring twitlonger or an amazing Instagram, make it a loophole to escape a focus fire. If you come out, it just shows you felt inspired watching it and didn't want to hide it." He says and I look at him. "You always made things seem so easy." I whisper and he nods, giving me a tight hug. "There usually is an ocean between us and a few timezones, but know, we in beautiful NA will always be there for you." He says and I nod. Just as I turn back Liz and Erik manage to win a 3v2 and take down two of ANX. "They will win, relax." James says with a big smirk and I smack him before I keep watching.

To say that this series is an absolute breeze for them is an understatement. ANX does try and put up a fight, but in their mission to win they pick meta-picks instead of the off-meta where they shine on. DMF does the complete opposite and goes into off-meta instead of meta and wrecks ANX. It is a slaughter and no game goes beyond 25 minutes. The crowd goes insane as they get up to shake hands and get down to the exit, where Erik, Ezra and Liz are filtered out and send to me. I grab Liz quickly and cover our mics. "I'm coming out with you." I say softly before uncovering the mics and smile at her. "Smile." I whisper and turn to the camera, waiting for James to bring the camera to me. Liz quickly recuperates from the news, smiles and squeezes my hand. Erik gets a mic and soon I hear James hand it over to me. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! We are joined by the absolute stars of today, who have decided to something special! FeedMe, ButtMuppet, Ezzieboy, can you tell me more?" I ask with the usual bright smile I have on camera. Liz starts with a smile. "Yeah, it was kind of an impromptu thing we came up with. Last Thursday we were given an afternoon off by our teammanagement to make sure we were relaxed and recharged for today's game, and I kind of lost the time when I visited my girlfriend, who is here too coincidentally, and kind of forgot the time and spend the night at her place. My team was up in worry and I told them the truth, that it wasn't what they thought and I came out to them." She says and Erik nods before taking over the mic. "Yeah and FeedMe had come out and Ezzie and I realised that we couldn't deny any longer what we are, so we came out with her and told the team about it. And then we were so ready to just make things official and tell the fans, that we decided to use today's game to come out and show that not everything is what it seems." He says and Ezra nods and takes over my mic. "And while ButtMuppet and I have been dating for a while, and we know that we are not ashamed to hide it, but we know it isn't as easy for people who are closeted or just don't really desire to come out." He says and then looks at Liz. "FeedMe is like a little sister for me and to see her make her dreams come true, and for us this is a dream come true, to just get it over with and come out, together, as a family." He says and Liz grabs his hand and squeezes it. I look at the camera. The camera man nods and I bite my lip briefly. "I am glad that this is all out there and I am sorry to cut this short, but I want to talk about the amazing games you have played and how it feels to go to the semi-finals in your debuting year!" I say excitedly and the three seem happy to talk about something else.

An hour later I am scrolling through my photos when Lizzie walks in. "Hey." I say and she smiles. "Scared to come out?" She asks gently and I look at her. "I didn't want to take over your one moment of fame." I say and she nods. "What are you going to do now?" She asks and I shrug. "I dunno, I think something like an Instagram post." I say and she nods and grabs a hand. "I'll be here for you." She says and suddenly I get an idea. "We can do this together." I say and she looks at me with this odd look in her eyes. "That look scares me." I say and she shakes her head before a smile breaks free. "You want to come out to the world with announcing me as your girlfriend?" She asks, her voice full of love. I nod and before I register anything else her lips find me and she kisses me. As she breaks away she nods. "Yeah, let's do it." I say and she smiles before taking off her jersey, leaving her in a blue lowcut shirt with no sleeves. "Wear this." She says and I look at her. "What do you mean?" I ask and she smiles with this dreamy and happy smile. "I want you to have it. It has given me the best day of my life and it is the least I can do. I want you to come out in my shirt." She says and I slip into it. "Sooo, how will we do this?" I ask and she shrugs. "That is up to you." She says and I kiss her gently. "No, it is up to the both of us." I say and she smiles before giving me a small peck and helping me off the chair. "Let's find my team, they can take the photo, I might have an idea." She says and we run to the team, holding hands.

We walk into the teamroom and she signals Erik over. "We need your help." She says and he nods and takes her phone and taps the on/off button twice. She licks her lips nervously before turning to me. "Trust me?" She whispers and I nod. "I do." I whisper and she smiles as Erik says "Ready!" and she turns me and gently coaxes me into a dip where she kisses me. Erik takes the photos while the rest of the team and the management cheer. As she pulls back I take a deep breath. "This is not what I imagined but I love it." I say, completely out of breath and she smirks. "Learn to expect the unexpected." She smirks and helps me up. Erik hands her back her phone and we swipe through the photos. At the one where she just stopped kissing me and we both have these goofy happy and in-love smiles on our face. "This is the one." I say and she nods. "Agreed." She says and hugs me as she texts it to me, her arms around me and her phone in front of me, Liz peeking over my shoulder. She sends me the photo and I smile, pecking her cheek and making way to the door. "I have to be at a meeting in 10, meet me afterwards if you can?" I ask and she nods and I leave.

Walking to the meeting I write my Insta post.

 _"Never did I think I would make this post, mostly because I never thought I was bisexual. But here is the point, I am. Once upon a time I fell in love with multiple guys and thought I would one day marry one and be done with it. Never did I think I would fall in love with a girl. The girlfriend Lizzie, or FeedMe as some might know her, referenced earlier today was me. Yes, I am the girl that she mentioned. We have been dating for a few months and it has been a bliss, besides the fact that we hid it. That is my greatest regret, not immediately sharing with everyone that I was in love with a girl. Lizzie showed me all the possibilities, and I must admit, I am so much more a woman I want to be with her than without her. She makes me realise that while I am not perfect, I do have people there for me, holding me through night terrors and rough times._

 _Today my girlfriend had come out, and I am joining her since it is the least I could do to support her. I love her with all I have and I do hope that everyone is accepting of us. She is my sun and stars, and I only hope I am her moon. She is my banana and I am the minion, I need her as much as I like her. I hope everyone supports us and that love may win. Love, Sjokz."_

I tag her and hit post…


End file.
